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Cop>Tight, 1904 by J. Martin Miller. 



THE PRESIDENT IN HIS OFFICE 

From early morning to midnight President Roosevelt gives his time to his country's business, and lends 
all the vigor of his intellect and physical energies to meeting the great 
responsibihties thurst uDon him. 




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i-iE ».■=! .Tiis: 



The Triumphant Life 

OF 

Theodore Roosevelt 

Citizen Statesman President 

The Inspiring Narrative of His Wonderful Career Related by 

HON. SHELBY M. CULLOM, 

HON. WILLIAM LOEB, HON. GEORGE C. PERKINS, 

and Other Distinguished Authorities. 

Embracing a Complete Account of the Republican 
National Convention of 1904, Its Proceedings, Plat- 
form and the Speeches of Speaker Cannon, 
Senator Beveridge, E.x-Governor Black, 
Secretary Root, and Others, 

togetiier with the 

Life Story of Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, 

Nominee for Vics-Presideat. 

LAVISHLY ILLrSTRATED 

With Hitherto Unpublished Portraits :of President Roosevelt and his fanrily, 

inciqding Many Instantaneons Photographs of Startling Scenes 

in the Life of the Chief Execntive. 

Edited by J. MARTIN MILLER 

The CeUbraUd Historian and Biographer 



£:7o7 



THE LIBRAHV OF 

CX3N0RESS. 
Out Go» ReCEIVFT! 

SEP. ^-9 1904 

B^Asr a xxo. N.. 
oofv a. 



Copyright, ig04. by 
J. MARTIN MILLEK 



INTRODUCTION 

President Roosevelt has never been a favorite of the poli- 
ticians. For the sake of their political existence, however, 
the professional politicians have been obliged to support him 
because of his great popularity with the people. The Presi- 
dent has gone along his way, doing what he thought to be the 
right thing at all times, regardless of the political machinists. 
This has been his characteristic throughout his entire political 
career, from the time he served as a member of the New- 
York Legislature, beginning in 1882. 

One of the greatest political manipulators this country has 
produced attempted to shelve Theodore Roosevelt in iqoo by 
nominating him for the Vice-Presidency. He succeeded in 
forcing the nomination upon him, but it did not operate to 
check his political career and place him where the political 
bosses thought he would be safe from doing the things that 
they are not accustomed to having done by men who are not 
rewarded with office. 

Theodore Roosevelt always refused to be owned by any 
political machine or set of bosses. This "Eastern man with 
Western characteristics," as Senator Depew describes him, 
has forged ahead in his career by his own propulsive force 
and individuality. 

This has brought him the severest kind of criticism on the 
part of not only liis opponents, but the political machinists 
within his own party. These latter do not, of course, dare 

3 



4 INTRODUCTION 

speak above a whisper in unfavorable terms of the President 
and his acts. These politicians have discussed the President 
in a disparaging way, confidentially, but when it happens that 
their attitude regarding him becomes public, then they set up 
a loud cry of denial and declare over and over again their 
allegiance to the President. The great political bosses of the 
country, as a rule, are closely identified with the great trusts 
and corporations, and the desire of the strictly professional 
politicians is, generally speaking, the desire of the so-called 
trusts. 

President Roosevelt has struck right out from the shoulder 
in expressing his mind to certain politicians who raised objec- 
tions to Mr. Cortelyou as chairman of the National Republi- 
can Committee, at the time the President first proposed Mr. 
Cortelyou. 

This caused some amusement and quite a little chagrin, 
but aside from the strictly professional politicians, the selec- 
tion of Mr. Cortelyou on the part of the President was consid- 
ered a wise one. The President is reported to have said to 
some of the political leaders: 

"I had this matter open for months, and allowed plenty of 
time to make suggestions, and none of you had a word to say. 
Now, when it is settled, and it is too late for any discussion, 
you come here and want to unsettle it and find fault. I don't 
want to hear any more about it." 

The President has forced upon the politicians the fact that 
this is a new era in politics. The politicians have been accus- 
tomed to look upon the national chairmanship as a position 
carrying with it an enormous political patronage. There is 
no system in the world like it for dickers and deals for place 
on the grandest scale. The politicians have been in the habit 



'INTRODUCTION 5 

of dealing with some one who has an appreciation of the place 
from the professional politician's standpoint. Every politician 
knows there is a vast amount of work connected with the 
position, a description of which they would not care to have 
presented to the public. 

Theodore Roosevelt is not a politician-made President. 
He is the candidate of the people in the Republican party and 
not of the politicians. They favor him only because it is in 
their interests to do so. 

More than a year ago, when I said to President Roosevelt 
that I proposed to write a book about him, he said that he 
believed the time for a man's biography to be written was 
after his death. 

"I desire to write an account, the best I can, of the history 
that you have made and are making, Mr. President," 1 
answered him, "rather than a biography or a 'life' in the°gen- 
eral acceptation of that term, and I believe the people are 
entitled to that." And every public man, the I^resident more 
than any other probably, realizes that the public are entitled 
to know about their public servants. 

Mr. Loeb, the President's secretary, afterward remarked 
that the President might not be nominated, and cautioned me 
that I might have all of my work of more than a year collect- 
ing material for a cause that might not prove of interest to 
people generally. 

"Not at all; the people everywhere in this country will not 
lose interest in Theodore Roosevelt, even though such an 
improbable contingency might happen that some other Repub- 
lican gets the nomination," I answered. And so I believed. 

Theodore Roosevelt is the greatest personal force in this 
country, and the record of no other man's life can be so full 



6 INTRODUCTION 

of thrilling interest to every reader and particularly of inspira- 
tion and incentive to young men of the nation, as this man's. 

The author became enthusiastic over the idea. He became 
fired with the desire to place before the public a book that 
would tell about how success had come to this man who, 
although of ample estate, deliberately chose a life of hard 
work; this man of pure family life who appeals to every 
home; this man who stands for purity and fair play for the 
people in politics; the man who has neutralized the evil and 
despotic influences of political machines, their bosses and cor- 
ruptionists; the man who does not fear the powerful but 
unseen influences of the great trusts and financial magnates; 
the man who stands for all the people and thus stamps himself 
as the most intense statesman, in his Americanism, of the age. 
This is a brief outline of the life of the man I shall endeavor, 
in the pages that follow, to tell you about. 

After I was well along in the preparation of this book, the 
President consented to sit for special photographs with which 
to illustrate it. These photographs appear in the following 
pages with the President's reproduced autograph as written 
on the photograph that was his favorite. These photographs 
were taken for this work just before the Chicago Convention 
which nominated President Roosevelt, and are his latest 
pictures. 

What a remarkable career! Is there a man or woman, boy 
or girl, who would not be interested in the account of the life 
of such an extraordinary man? He is our first President of 
the Twentieth Century. 

J. Martin Miller 

Washington, D. C. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Introduction 3 

Theodore Roosevelt— What He Has Accomplished 13 

Biography of Theodore Roosevelt -3 

Theodore Roosevelt — His Qualifications for Office 31 

CHAPTER I 

ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 

Gigantic Responsibility— New-comer Closely Watched— The Prejudice Wears 
Away— A Democratic President— A Hard Worker- Kind and Thoughtful 
at All Times— Cabinet Days— A Splendid Horseman— Gives All His Time 
to His Country's Business 35 

CHAPTER n 

GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 

Many Cordial Welcomes— Tours of Prominence— The President's Carriage 
Struck by a Trolley Car— Death of Secret Service Officer Craig— At Chatta- 
nooga and Chickamauga— Made No Trips in 1904— The Presidential Train— 
The President a Delightful Companion— Sounding the Pulse of the Public. . 42 

CHAPTER HI 

THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 

Eastern Birth with Western Characteristics— Theodore Roosevelt's Ancestors- 
Birth— His Youth— His Family Strict Church People— As a Boy Was Robust 
in Spirit but Not in Body— Wincipal Events of His Life— His Books- 
Remarkable Versatility and Adaptability— An Interesting Romance— The 
Highest Type of an American 52 

CHAPTER IV 

HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 

The President's Wife and Family— Mrs. Roosevelt a Domestic Woman— Receives 
Many Visitors— The White House Office— How the Business is Conducted— 
The President's Official Household— A Visit from Carrie Nation— Shaking 
Hands with Three Thousand People in One Day— Marvelous Knowledge of 
Foreign Countries— The Army and Navy — The White House Residence- 
Social Customs — New Year's Day 64 

CHAPTER V 

DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 

Visits from Societies— Mrs. Roosevelt Entertains Six Hundred Children— The 
President's Daily Habits— A Remarkable Memory— Official Duties— Diver- 
sions— Fond of Long Walks— Plays Tennis Well and Enjoys Wrestling— The 

President's Secretary— Egg Rolling— At Oyster Bay 77 

7 



8 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VI 
LIFE IN THE WEST 

Exciting Adv'entures— A Mistaken Ruffian— A. Western Episode— The Pleasures 
of the Chase— Shoots His First Buffalo— Kills Two Deer at Four Hundred 
Yards— An Exciting Elk Hunt— Hunting Dangerous Game— Stands Off a 
Band of Indians— Tribute to the Rough Riders 87 

CHAPTER VII 
ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 

Appointed a Member of the Civil Service Commission— Views on the Subject— 
The Merit System— The Fair Plav Department— Head of the New York 
Police— Civic Corruption— Blackmail—An Unequal Battle— His Life Threat- 
ened—Becomes Assistant Secretary of the Navy— Military Preparedness,. . . 97 

CHAPTER VIII 
THE ROUGH RIDERS 

Organizing the Regiment— A Composite Lot— College Athletes and Cowboys— 
The Officers— Orders to March— The Landing at Daiquiri— The First Skir- 
mish—Death of Sergeant Fish and Captain Capron— The La Quassina 
Fight-The Baptism of Fire— San Juan Hill— The Surrender of Santiago— 
The Celebrated "Round Robin" 105 

CHAPTER IX 
GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 

Theodore Roosevelt's Pledge— Ambitious to be Right— Chauncey M. Depew 
Places Roosevelt's Name in Nomination — Advocate of Civil Service Reform 
— Labor Laws— Attorney-General's Department— State Canals— Did Not 
Wish to be Vice-President— Street Franchise Legislation— State Factory 
Law Enforced — Friend of the Common People 123 

CHAPTER X 
HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 

The'Cause of His Leadership— Attitude toward the Panama Republic — Self-con- 
fidence—The Spanish War— His First Chance— A Flesh and Blood Candi- 
date — Roosevelt's Nomination as Vice-President — Seconds the Nomination 
of President McKinley— A Memorable Campaign Tour— A National Tragedy 
—Grasps the Reins of Power- A Hazardous Ride— Roosevelt's Proclamation. 129 

.CHAPTER XI 
THE PANAMA CANAL 

History of the Project— Its Inception— The Nicaragua Route Proposed— The 
Canal Bill Signed by the President- Text of the Law— The Spooner Substi- 
tute—The Direction of the Panama Canal Placed in the Hands of the War 
Department — President Roosevelt on the Canal Question — The Incompe- 
tency of Colombia— A Bloodless Rebellion— The Duty of the United States. 137 



CONTENTS 9 

CHAPTER XII 
THE MERGER DECISION 

PAGE 

The Anti-trust Act Can Prevent Combination — Judge Thayer's Decision Held as 
a Victory for the People — President Roosevelt Given Much Credit — The 
Declaration of the Court — Trusts are Illegal — A Sweeping Opinion— A 
Triumph of Law M^ 

CHAPTER XIII 
THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

Anxious to Give an Account of His Stewardship — Rides in the Cab with the 
Engineer — Throngs Await His Coming — Arrives at Chicago — Reception at 
Evanston — The President's Celebrated Speech on the Monroe Doctrine — 
Trip through Wisconsin— Famous Address on Trusts in Milwaukee 155 

CHAPTER XIV 
WESTWARD ho! 

Enthusiastic Crowds at Every Stopping Place— !n Minneapolis and St. Paul— 
The Wage-Worker and the Tiller of the Soil— Through the Dakotas— The 
Philippine Polic> — Yellowstone Park— The President in Nebraska — Across 
the State of Iowa 181 

CHAPTER XV 

SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

Arrives at St. Louis — Dines vvitli Ex-President Cleveland — Dedicates the Louisi- 
ana Purchase Exposition — The President's Speech Receiver! with (ireat 
. Enthusiasm — Cordial Demonstration by Kansas City People — Ovations in 
Colorado and California— Speaks on Expansion in San Francisco— The Trip 
through Nevada and Oregon — Greeted by Cheering Thousands in Wash- 
ington, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah — Homeward Bound 200 

CHAPTER XVI 

THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

Elihu Root Made Chairman— A Remarkable Speech— Difficult Problems— Will 
of the People Must Govern — Assurance of Good Government— Candidates <>{ 
Proved Competency — Past Achievements — Sound Currency — Trust Regula- 
tions—Practical Laws — Trade Doubled — The Isthmian Canal — Monroe 
Doctrine Upheld— Army and Navy Strengthened— Tribute to Roosevelt 224 

CHAPTER XVII 

THE SECOND DAY 

Chairman Joseph G. Cannon Addresses the Convention— The Party's History — 
American Labor Fostered— The Country's Policy Outlined— Contrast in 
Administrations— The Philippine Islands— The Enemy of Trusts— The 
Strike Question— Great Things to be Done— The Platform Read and 
Adopted 247 



lo CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVIII 

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 

PAGE 

The Party's Record — Unhappy Conditions Met — The Gold Standard — Free 
Cuba— The Panama Canal— The Trusts Curbed— Tarifif Plank— Foreign 
Markets — The Merchant Marine — To Maintain the Navy — The Foreign 
Policy — Confidence in Roosevelt 262 

CHAPTER XIX 

THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

Ex-Governor Black Places Theodore Roosevelt in Nomination— Discord in th« 
Democratic Party — Justice, Equality and Progress — The Republican Party 
Has Never Failed iii a Crisis— Roosevelt No Stranger— Events Select the 
Strongest Man — Enthusiasm Rampant — The Seconding Speech of Senator 
Beveridge — George A. Knight of California Arouses the Convention — Harry 
Stillwell Edwards Speaks for the South — Nomination of Charles W. Fair- 
banks — The Convention Adjourns 268 

CHAPTER XX 

THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 

President Roosevelt's First Message — Entertains Prince Henry of Prussia — 
Cuban Reciprocity — The Great Anthracite Coal Strike — The Venezuelan 
Affair — The Alaskan Boundary — The Panama Canal — Postoffice Frauds — 
The Railroad Merger Defeated — The Hay Note 2g+ 

CHAPTER XXI 

Biography of Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks, Republican Nominee for Vice-Presi- 
dent 305 

CHAPTER XXII 
Letters of Theodore Roosevelt 316 

CHAPTER XXIII 
Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt 331 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

Portrait of Theodore Roosevelt. 
Edith Kermit Roosevelt. 
The President and His Family, 
Alice Roosevelt. 

Theodore Roosevelt at Twelve Years of Age. 
The Hero of San Juan Hill. 
The President in His Office. 
Hunting the Cougar. 
Mr. Roosevelt as a Cowboy. 
President Roosevelt and His Sons. 
The President Riding Across Country. 
Ready for a Ride. 

The President's Favorite Exercise. 
The Executive Mansion at Washington. 
President Roosevelt's Room in the New White House. 
Hon. Charles Warren Fairbanks. 
The Family op Hon. Charles Warren Fairbanks. 
The President Says Good-bye. 
The President in Rhode Island. 
President Roosevelt in Vermont. 
President Roosevelt and Senator Hoar. 
An Open-Air Speech. 
The Nation's Chief at St. Paul. 
"Should Auld Acquaintance be Forgot?" 
At Fort Yellowstone. 
The President in Wyoming. 
A Sixty-Mile Ride. 
At Yellowstone Park. 
The Reception at Portland. 
President Roosevelt in San Francisco. 
The President and the Engineer. 
The Celestial Dragon. 
President Roosevelt in California. 
The President in New Mexico. 
The President's .Arrival at S.\nta Cruz. 

II 



12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

President Roosevelt ts Kansas. 

At Grand Canyon, Arizona. 

The President in Nebraska. 

A Sea of Faces. 

Easter Egg Rolling on the White House Grounds. 

President Roosevelt and Prince Henry. 

Sagamore Hill. 

Interior View of President Roosevelt's Country Home. 

Exterior View of the Collseum at Chicago. 

Republican National Convention in Session. 

William Loeb, Jr. 

Cor.nelius Bliss. 

Redfield Proctor. 

Albert J. Beveridge. 

Henry C. Lodge. 

William P. Frye. 

John C. Spooner. 

Chauncey Mitchell Depew. 

William McKinley. 

The President in Missouri. 

A Typical Iowa Audience. 

At Chickamauga Park. 

On the Top of Lookout Mountain. 

WiLLiA.vi B. .\llison. 

George F. Hoar. 

Nelson W. Aldrich. 

Edward O Walcott. 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

WHAT HE HAS ACCOMPLISHED 

Many men have an idea that because of President Roose- 
velt's vigorous and somewhat restless nature he is not careful 
and thoughtful in the discharge of great duties; but the truth 
is that when he has a great or important duty to perform, 
realizing himself that he is full of energy and activity, he seems 
more inclined to consult and deliberate, before positive action 
is taken, than most men. Therefore when his career as presi- 
dent is looked over it is found that he has exercised good 
judgment, and has never done anything to lower the dignity of 
his great office or to jeopardize the interests and honor of his 
country. 

Take, for instance, the diplomatic relations between the 
United States and foreign countries; there have been but few 
presidents in our history who have enjoyed the esteem of 
foreign rulers to the extent that President Roosevelt has. 

His personal relations with many of the rulers of the great 
nations are exceedingly pleasant and there is not the slightest 
danger that the United States will have any trouble with any 
foreign nation, unless that nation should attempt in some way 
to take advantage of our country. 

As chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, I had 

occasion to look into the question as to what the United States 

had been doing in its dealings with foreign powers since the 

13 



14 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

beginning of the McKinley administration and through the 
Roosevelt administration. I venture that nothing will be 
found in President Roosevelt's administration in dealing with 
foreign governments that would not be endorsed three to one 
by the American people. Under the McKinley-Roosevelt 
administration more important diplomatic questions were 
brought to a successful conclusion than under any previous 
administration in the history of the United States. 

Our acquisition of Porto Rico and the Philippines, while 
important to the United States, has given to the people of 
those islands a better government, more liberty, greater pros- 
perity than they ever enjoyed in their previous history. 

To Porto Rico we have given practically the same govern- 
ment as we have given to our own Territories. The governor of 
the island is appointed by the president, but by law we have pro- 
vided that Porto Rico shall have a local legislature elected by 
her own people, authorized to pass laws for the local govern- 
ment of the island. We have provided Porto Rico an admira- 
ble judiciary, composed principally of native Porto Ricans. 

We have given to Porto Rico the benefit of free trade with 
the United States, which has in no small measure contributed 
to her prosperous condition. 

The Porto Ricans are a quiet, orderly people, apparently 
perfectly satisfied to remain under our flag, and have given to 
the United States no embarrassment. 

When we assumed control of the Philippine Islands, under 
the treaty of peace with Spain, the natives were in a state of 
revolution against the authority of the Spanish government. 
That revolution continued for a time against the sovereignty 
of the United States, but at last peace was restored, a compara- 
tively small army of some 15,000 soldiers remaining to secure 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 15 

order. We have provided the Philippines with a complete 
civil service government and as large a measure of local self- 
government as they are capable of exercising. 

President Roosevelt well summed up the Philippine situa- 
tion in his message at the beginning of the second session of 
the Fifty-Seventh Congress, wherein he said: 

"Civil government has now been introduced. Not only 
does each Filipino enjoy such rights to life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness as he has never before known during the 
recorded history of the islands, but the people taken as a 
whole now enjoy a measure of self-government greater than 
that granted to any other orientals by any foreign power, and 
greater than that enjoyed by any other orientals under their 
own government, save the Japanese alone. 

"No policy ever entered into by the American people has 
vindicated itself in a more signal manner than the policy of 
holding the Philippines." 

The termination of the war with Spain freed Cuba and 
gave to the United States Porto Rico and the Philippines. 
But there were more important results. That short, though 
momentous, conflict, small though it was in comparison with 
our own Civil War, had almost as important an effect upon 
the subsequent history and policy of the United States. 

Our war with Spain brought the nation to a self-conscious- 
ness as no other event in our history has done. That conflict 
aroused us to a realization of the fact that more than a cen- 
tury of remarkable internal industrial development had ren- 
dered us an important factor in the world's system. 

Under the administrations of McKinley and Roosevelt the 
United States obtained a position among the nations of the 
world which it never occupied in any former period of our 



i6 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

national life. Eight years ago we were not considered or con- 
sulted in the policies or politics of the world. To-day we are 
regarded by the other nations as one of the great leading 
nations of the world, and are consulted as a factor in the set- 
tlement of the policies and the disposition of the important 
questions arising among the nations. 

The simple fact that this nation is a factor and is so recog- 
nized by other nations is of no very great consequence, except 
as it may influence other nations in their conduct toward us, 
and this nation may exert its power among other nations for 
the uplifting of mankind. The world is slowly moving toward 
the recognition of the doctrine that governments are made by 
and for the people and not the people for the government. 

In securing the freedom of Cuba a question that had been 
before succeeding administrations since 1823 was finally and 
for all time disposed of. 

The long-pending controversy between the United States 
and Great Britain over the boundary between Alaska and 
Canada was another very important diplomatic question which 
was settled under this administration. 

In view of our long and undisputed occupation of the terri- 
tory in question, President Roosevelt declined to allow the 
reference of the Alaskan boundary controversy to a regular 
arbitration at The Hague Court, but instead he proposed the 
creation of a judicial tribunal composed of an equal number of 
members from each country, feeling confident that our claim 
would be successfully established by such a body. Against 
much opposition and many predictions of failure, on January 
24, 1903, a treaty between the United States and Great Britain 
was signed, providing for such a tribunal. 

The treaty was ratified and the members of the tribunal 




* « # * # y I 

k jt ^ ^ ^ ^ J >fc ^ .i tt ^'*- ^ c ft - t' tf 



Copyright, l!in4. hy Arthur Hewitt 

EDITH KERMIT ROOSEVELT 

Wife of the President. 



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THEODORE ROOSEVELT 17 

appointed. Assembling on September 3, 1903, and being pre- 
sided over by the lord chief justice of England, it reached a 
conclusion on October 20th, resulting in a complete victory for 
the United States and sustaining every material contention of 
our government. 

Thus was confirmed the wisdom of President Roosevelt's 
action, peacefully settling this irritating controversy, which, it 
was believed by some, would eventually cause war between the 
United States and Great Britain, and which certainly stood as 
an obstacle to the maintenance of peaceful relations with 
Canada. 

The diplomatic complications which had for years stood in 
the way of an interoceanic canal connecting the two great 
oceans were finally disposed of during the last two Republican 
administrations, and the practical work of constructing the 
canal was commenced under the administration of President 
Roosevelt. 

A canal across the Isthmus, connecting the Atlantic with 
the Pacific Ocean, in the interest of the commerce of the 
world, has been the dream of the ages. F"or almost three- 
quarters of a century an interoceanic canal has been a policy 
of every party and almost of every administration. 

It remained for the McKinley-Roosevelt administrations, 
through the diplomacy of Secretary Hay, to successfully 
negotiate the Hay-Pauncefote treaty with Great Britain, by 
which the Clayton-Bulwer treaty was finally superseded and 
the United States given authority to build a canal and assume 
the responsibility of safeguarding and regulating its neutral 
use by all the nations of the world on terms of equality. 

The way was thus opened for the negotiation of a treaty 
with one of the two governments which had sovereignty over 



i8 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

the two available canal routes, Colombia or Nicaragua. Con- 
gress expressed its preference for the Panama route. A treaty 
with Colombia was ratified, and rejected by Colombia. The 
State of Panama seceded and regained her independence, and 
is now a complete and independent republic. A newtreaty 
was negotiated with Panama, much superior to the one which 
Colombia had rejected, which gave the United States every 
concession which we desired or could ask for the construction 
of a canal. Then the property of the Panama Canal Company 
was purchased. 

This is only another illustration of the success of the 
Roosevelt administration in bringing to a triumphant termina- 
tion a question which other presidents had failed to settle. 
Thus, under the short three years of President Roosevelt's 
administration more progress was made toward the construc- 
tion of an interoceanic canal than in three-quarters of a cen- 
tury of our previous history. 

During the past few years the situation in the Far East, 
and especially in China, has been a delicate and most critical 
one. The acquisition of Hawaii and the Philippines gave to 
the United States great interest in the important events tran- 
spiring in the Orient. 

The open-door policy of Secretary Hay has succeeded; an 
opportunity has been given to secure enlarging markets for 
the products of our growing industries, and the territorial 
integrity and the complete sovereignty of the government of 
China assured. 

Secretary Hay, on February lo, 1904, addressed to the 
governments of Russia, Japan and China, and to other powers 
interested in China, a note of the following tenor: 

"It is the earnest desire of the government of the United 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 19 

States that in the military operations which have begun 
between Russia and Japan, the neutrality of China, and in all 
practicable ways her administrative entity, shall be protected 
by both parties, and that the area of hostilities shall be local- 
ized and limited as much as possible, so that undue excitement 
and disturbance of the Chinese people may be prevented and 
the least possible loss to the commerce and peaceful inter- 
course of the world may be occasioned." 

This measure was recognized as so wise and was so gener- 
ally commended by the nations of the world that not only was 
it accepted by the neutral nations, but by Russia and Japan 
themselves. 

Too much credit cannot be given to the administration of 
President Roosevelt for the splendid manner in which this 
delicate and complicated Chinese and Eastern question was 
managed by the admirable statesmanship and diplomacy of 
his great Secretary of State. 

Immediately after the outbreak of the war, on February 11, 
IQ04, President Roosevelt issued his proclamation, declaring 
that war unhappily e.xisted between Japan on the one side and 
Russia on the other; that the United States were on terms of 
friendship and amity with both the contending powers and the 
persons inhabiting their several dominions; that the United 
States assumed a neutral position, and proclaimed the strictest 
rules of neutrality for the government of our nation and its 
people in the important conflict. 

Under the administration of President Roosevelt alone, 
more than thirty treaties and international agreements were 
concluded. There were concluded and proclaimed extradi- 
tion treaties with Peru, Switzerland, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, 
Servia, Brazil, Guatemala, Orange Free State, Argentine 



20 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Republic, Great Britain, Bolivia, and an extradition and sup- 
plementary extradition treaty with Mexico. 

The supplementary extradition treaty with Mexico was 
specially important as providing for the extradition of bribe 
givers and bribe takers, a precedent thereby being established 
for the crime of bribery being made an extraditionable 
offense. 

President Roosevelt well said in one of his annual mes- 
sages that there can be no crime more serious than bribery; 
that other offenses violate one law while corruption strikes at 
the foundation of all law. 

An important treaty, establishing friendly relations with 
Spain and containing provisions general in treaties of friend- 
ship, was ratified and proclaimed. Water-boundary conven- 
tions were concluded with Mexico; property conventions with 
Great Britain and Guatemala; a convention with Spain for 
the cession to the United States of certain outlying islands in 
the Philippines; a trade-mark convention with Guatemala; a 
consular convention with Greece; a commercial convention 
with Ethiopia; a treaty with Mexico for the arbitration of the 
Pious Fund, and a number of less important conventions and 
diplomatic arrangements, which I cannot stop to enumerate, 
have in the past few years been concluded and proclaimed. 

An important treaty with Great Britain and Germany was 
concluded, by which Great Britain retired from Samoa, and 
Germany and Great Britain renounced in favor of the United 
States all claim to the island of Tutuila and its outlying islets, 
Germany retaining the other islands in the Samoan group. 

The consular service of the United States is constantly 
increasing in efficiency. Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt 
have appointed a corps of consuls to represent our commercial 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 21 

interests abroad who have displayed unusual ability in the 
discharge of the varied and important duties that consuls of 
the United States have to perform. In China and Central 
and South America the consular officers have been called upon 
to perform delicate and trying duties of a diplomatic charac- 
ter, and have discharged those duties with rare tact and 
ability. 

Under the beneficent administration of Republican presi- 
dents the Union became consolidated into one nation, and in 
the recent crisis through which tur own nation and the nations 
of the world have been passing, the party of Lincoln and 
Grant and Blaine and McKinley and Roosevelt is still faithful 
to duty and manifests the wisdom and statesmanship necessary 
to meet every emergency and wisely dispose of all questions 
with an eye single to the welfare of the people, the stability of 
the Union, and the good of mankind. 

The nation is no longer a house divitled against itself; it 
has followed the teachings of the Father of his Country in 
being mindful of our relations with foreign countries, in adopt- 
ing the policy of extending our commercial relations with as 
little political connection as possible. 

The policy of this nation now is and ought to be absolute 
neutrality between the nations of the world, whether at peace 
or at war, honest and straightforward in our intercourse with 
all. 

The struggle between Russia and Japan is a calamity which 
the nations greatly regret, and all the nations would rejoice if 
that war would cease, and I am sure that this government 
would gladly do anything possible, by the consent of the con- 
tending powers, to effect a settlement on fair terms to each. 

1 have no authority to speak for the Republican party or 



22 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

for the Republican administration — I speak only for myself — • 
but I believe I voice the judgment of both the people and our 
administration when I say they are for peace with all the 
nations and are not in favor of a policy of aggression in order 
to secure expansion of territory in any direction. 



JliAAJ(zi^Mn^i^ 



BIOGRAPHY OF 
THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Roosevelt, Theodore, twenty-sixth President of the United 
States, was born in New York City, October 27, 1858; son of 
Theodore (1831-78) and Martha (Bulloch) Roosevelt, grandson 
of Cornelius Van Schaack and Margaret (Barnhill) Roosevelt, 
great-grandson of James (or Jacobus) John and Mary (Van 
Schaack) Roosevelt, and is descended in a direct line from 
Claes Martenszoon and Jannetje (Thomas) Van Rosevelt, 
who came to New Amsterdam from Holland about 165 1. 

He attended for a short time the McMullen School, New 
York City, but was so frail in health that he was unable to 
continue, and was then placed under private instructors at his 
home. He was tutored for college by Mr. Cutler, subsequently 
the founder of the Cutler School, and was graduated from 
Harvard in 1880. 

Was married, September 23, 1880, to Alice, daughter of 
George Cabot and Caroline (Haskell) Lee of Boston, Mass. 
She died in 1883, leaving one daughter, Alice Lee. 

He became a student in the New York law school; was a 

Republican member of the New York assembly 1882, 1883 and 

1884; was candidate of his party for speaker of the assembly 

in 1884; chairman of the committee on cities and of a special 

committee known as the Roosevelt Investigating Committee. 

As a supporter of the civil service reform, he introduced bills 

which became laws affecting the government of New York 

23 



24 BIOGRAPHY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

City, and especially the patronage exercised by the sheriff, 
county clerk and register, which greatly reformed the conduct 
of their respective offices. 

He was a delegate to the Republican State Convention of 
1884; delegate-at-large from New York and chairman of the 
New York delegation to the Republican National Convention 
that met at Chicago, June 3, 1884; purchased the Elk Horn 
and the Chimney Butte ranches at Medora on the Little Mis- 
souri River in North Dakota, where he lived, 18S4-86. 

He was a member of the New York State Militia, 1884-S8, 
serving in the Eighth Regiment, N. G. S. N. Y., as lieutenant, 
and for three years as captain. 

He was married secondly, December 2, 1886, to Edith Ker- 
mit, daughter of Charles and Gertrude Elizabeth (Tyler) 
Carow of New York City. 

He was the unsuccessful Republican candidate for mayor 
of New York City in 1S86, when Abram S. Hewitt was elected; 
was in May, 1889, appointed on the U. S. Civil Service Com- 
mission in Washington, D. C, by President Harrison, and 
served as president of the commission. He was continued in 
ofifice by President Cleveland, but resigned in May, 1895, to 
accept the position of police commissioner of New York City 
in the administration of Mayor Strong, and he was president 
of the bi-partisan board, 1895-97. 

He was appointed assistant secretary of the U. S. Navy in 
April, 1S97, by President McKinley, and on the declaration of 
the war with Spain in April, 1898, he resigned to recruit the 
First U. S. V. Cavalry, a regiment of "Rough Riders" made up 
mostly of his acquaintances on the Western plains, including 
cowboys and miners, with some members of the college ath- 
letic clubs of New York and Boston — men who could ride, 



BIOGRAPHY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 25 

shoot and live in the open. He was commissioned lieutenant- 
colonel, May 6, 1898, and was promoted to the rank of colonel 
after the battle of La Ouassina, San Juan, when Col. Leonard 
Wood was promoted to brigadier-general and assigned to the 
governorship of Santiago. 

When the war closed, the Republican party of his native 
State nominated him their candidate for governor, and he was 
elected over Van Wyck, Democrat, Kline, Prohibitionist, Han- 
ford, Social Labor, and Bacon, Citizens' ticket, by a plurality 
of 17,786 votes in a total vote of 1,343,968. He served as gov- 
ernor of New York, 1899-1900. His administration as gov- 
ernor was conspicuous in his thorough work in reforming the 
canal boards; instituting an improved system of civil service, 
including the adoption of the merit system in county offices, 
and in calling an extra session of the legislature to secure the 
passage of a bill he had recommended at the general session, 
taking as real estate the value of railroads and other fran- 
chises to use public streets, in spite of the protests of corpora- 
tions and Republican leaders. 

He was nominated Vice-President of the United States by 
the Republican National Convention that met at Philadelphia, 
June, 1900, where he was forced by the demands of the West- 
ern delegates, to accept the nomination, with William McKin- 
ley for President, and he was elected November 6, 1900. He 
was sworn into office as the twenty-sixth President of the 
United States, September 14, 1901, by reason of the assassina- 
tion of President McKinley; Roosevelt being, at the time, less 
than forty-three years old, the youngest man in the history of 
the United States to have attained the chief magistracy of the 
government. He served to the end of the presidential term, 
which expired March 4, 1905. 



26 BIOGRAPHY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

In assuming the presidency, he reappointed the entire 
cabinet of President McKinley as it existed at the time of his 
death, and he announced that it should be his purpose to carry 
out absolutely unbroken the political policy worked out by his 
predecessor. The cabinet, with the changes during his 
administration, was as follows: John Hay of the District of 
Columbia, secretary of state; Lyman J. Gage of Illinois, secre- 
tary of the treasury, succeeded by Leslie, M. Shaw of Iowa; 
Elihu Root of New York, secretary of war, succeeded by 
William H. Taft of Ohio; Ethan A. Hitchcock of Missouri, 
secretary of the interior; John D. Long of Massachusetts, sec- 
retary of the navy, succeeded by William H. Moody of Mass- 
achusetts, and who was, in turn, succeeded by Paul Morton of 
Illinois; James Wilson of Iowa, secretary of agriculture; Charles 
Emory Smith of Pennsylvania, postmaster-general, succeeded 
by Henry C. Payne of Wisconsin; Philander C. Knox of Penn- 
sylvania, attorney-general, succeeded by William H. Moody. 

The diplomatic representatives continued from McKinley's 
administration were: Joseph H. Choate of New York, U. S. 
ambassador to Great Britain; Horace Porter of New York, 
U. S. ambassador to France; Robert S. McCormick of Illinois, 
U. S. minister to Austria until January 8, 1903, when he was 
transferred as U. S. ambassador to Russia; Charlemagne 
Tower of Philadelphia, U. S. ambassador to Russia, trans- 
ferred January 8, 1903, to Germany; Andrew D. White of 
New York, U. S. ambassador to Germany, who resigned 
December, IQ02; George L. von Meyer of Massachusetts, 
U. S. ambassador to Italy, and Bellamy Storer of Ohio, U. S. 
minister to Spain, transferred December, 1902, to Austria as 
U. S. ambassador and being succeeded at Madrid, Spain, by 
Arthur Sherburn Hardy, late U. S. envoy to Switzerland. 



BIOGRAPHY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 27 

A vacancy occurred on the bench of the U. S. Supreme 
Court by the resignation of Associate Justice Horace Gray, 
and on August 11, 1902, President Roosevelt appointed Oliver 
Wendell Holmes of Massachusetts, associate justice, and on 
the resignation of Associate justice George Shiras, Jr., in 1903, 
he appointed Judge William R. Day of the U. S. Circuit 
Court, associate justice. 

His first message to Congress followed the line of policy 
foreshadowed in McKinley's last speech at Buffalo, and as 
President he made extended journeys through the various 
States, the welcome extended to him being alike generous and 
universal in New England and in the Southern States. It is 
safe to say that no president who had reached the office 
through the vice-presidency began his administration under 
better auspices or with less of partisan opposition and criti- 
cism. His recommendations were acknowledged to be wise 
and conservative, and while Congress did not adopt them all, 
it gave to each careful consideration. His action in reference 
to the coal strike of 1902 restored order and secured a return 
of the miners to their work, and at the same time made the 
workingmen feel that their cause had not suffered from his 
counsel. In the complications arising from the Venezuela 
difficulties in 1902-03, he maintained the Monroe Doctrine in 
all negotiations with the European powers interested, and 
was honored by the government of Venezuela in being named 
as an acceptable arbitrator, which duty he gracefully avoided 
by proposing The Hague tribunal as the proper means for 
arriving at a peaceful solution. 

He enjoyed high social, literary and academic distinction 
before he became President, having been elected a member of 
the Columbia Historical Society, to which he contributed 



28 BIOGRAPHY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

papers on the Dutch colonies of New Amsterdam; the 
National Geographical Society; the Union League Club and 
the Century Association of New York City; the Anthropolog- 
ical Society of Washington; the American Museum of Natural 
History, of which he was a trustee, as he was of the State 
Charities Association and of the Newsboys' Lodging House, 
of which his father was the organizer and a liberal patron. 

He organized, in 1887, and was the first president of the 
Boone and Crockett Club, whose objects are the hunting of 
big game, exploration and preservation of game and forests, 
holding the office until 1896. He instituted, February 2, 1899, 
and was the first commander of the Naval and Military Order 
of the Spanish-American War; and became a member of the 
Rough Riders' Association, organized in Cuba before the dis- 
bandment of the First Regiment, United States Volunteers 
Cavalry, and of the National Association of Spanish-American 
War Veterans, incorporated December 14, 1899. He was 
made an honorary member of the Union League Club of Chi- 
cago in 1902, and of the Alpine Club of London. He received 
the honorary degree of LL.D. from Columbia in 1899, from 
Yale in October, 1901, and from Harvard in 1902, having been 
elected a member of the Harvard University Board of Over- 
seers in 1895. 

He is the author of History of the Naval War of 1812 
(1882); Hunting Trips of a Ranchman (18S5); Life of Thomas 
H. Benton (1SS5) and Life of Gouverneur Morris (1887), in the 
"American Statesmen Series"; Ranch Life and the Hunting 
Trail (1S88); Essays on Practical Politics (1888); The Winning 
of the West — The Founding of the Alleghany Common- 
wealths, 1784-90 (Vols. I and II, 1889); History of New York 
City (1890); The Wilderness Hunter (1893); "The Boone and 



BIOGRAPHY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 29 

Crockett Club Series," edited by Roosevelt and George Bird 
Grinnell; American Big Game Hunting (1893); Hunting in 
Many Lands (1895), and The Trail and Camp Fire (1896); 
Hero Tales from American History, fourteen tales by Theo- 
dore Roosevelt and twelve by Henry Cabot Lodge (1895); The 
Winning of the West— Louisiana and the North-West (Vols. 
Ill and IV, 1893-96); American Ideals (1897); The Rough 
Riders (1899); Oliver Cromwell (1900); The Strenuous Life 
(1900); part author The Deer Family (1902). 



-=ZP 



\ 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

HIS QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE 

If there is anything the people out West like, above all 
others, it is a man with convictions. Thousands of Democrats 
believe implicitly in President Roosevelt. I know the conserv- 
ative, thinking men in that party do. 

President Roosevelt is a conservator of public and private 
property and the workingman's friend. He has been identi- 
fied with the West and is in touch with the stock-raisers, farm- 
ers, lumbermen, miners, mechanics, and business men through- 
out every State of the great West. On his famous trip 
extending from one end of the country to the other. President 
Roosevelt was paid homage by the people universally. No 
man in this country has ever received such a continued and 
enduring series of ovations. He is the exponent of the highest 
class of our citizenship. His home life is ideal. The very 
foundation of this Republic is the home. We want a man at 
the head of this nation whose first impulse is for the home and 
who honors it and its sacredness above all other institutions, 
and such a man we have in the White House. Theodore 
Roosevelt is a gentleman of the very highest type. He is one 
of the ripest all-round scholars in this country. 

He is one of the most versatile men I have ever known. 

I have heard him address all kinds of people. In California 

he has spoken to our university students, the public schools, 

the lumbermen, the miners, the horticulturists, the viticultur- 

31 



32 THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

ists, the farmers, the ranchmen, the commercial travelers, and 
merchants. I have also heard him address the women of the 
Red Cross. He could talk to each of these classes with equal 
facility, about what they represented. There is no man in the 
nation who understands the requirements and the needs of the 
American people as does Theodore Roosevelt. I began life 
as a sailor boy at seven dollars a month. I have associated 
with the working classes of people, for I had as hard a struggle 
as any of them in my early life. I have worked as a sailor, a 
miner, a farmer, and a merchant. I personally know this 
class of people, and am glad to have the honor of their 
acquaintance. I know them so well that I can say that the 
great middle classes of people, as well as what we call the 
laboring people, are enthusiastic admirers of Theodore Roose- 
velt. In fact, nearly all of these people feel that he is their 
personal friend and advocate. 

President Roosevelt was the most breezy candidate that was 
ever put forward in this country. I say this in the sense 
that the masses of the people, East and West, all shouted 
for him. They appreciated him as an all-around man. He is 
perfectly at home on a Spanish mule or a broncho, herding 
his cattle on the range. I remember once that President 
Grover Cleveland was asked if he had ever been out West. 
He replied that he had been as far as Chicago. The people 
of this country, more than at any other time during its won- 
derful history, require a man as the Chief Executive of the 
nation who has a personal knowledge of every State of the 
Union. Every one knows that President Roosevelt is pos- 
sessed of this knowledge. Those who have not had the pleas- 
ure of hearing him speak, have been privileged to read his 
addresses delivered from one end of the country to the other. 




Cop>Tiglit, I'.IIM. by Tiiili Uros. 



ALICE ROOSEVELT 

Oldest daurhter of the President. 




THEODORE ROOSEVELT AT TWELVE YEARS OF AGE 



THEODORE ROOSEVELT 



33 



If the people of this country would read and stud}' these 
addresses carefully, they would have a very good knowledge 
of the history of the United States. President Roosevelt is 
not controlled by trusts, corporations, or any set of scheming 
politicians. With such a man in the presidential chair, the 
country is safe, and the rights of every citizen, male and 
female, will be protected at all times, as long as Theodore 
Roosevelt has charge of the Ship of State. 




CHAPTER I 

ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 

Gigantic Responsibility^Newcomer Closely Watched — The Prejudice Wears 
Away — A Democratic President — A Hard Worker — Kind and Thought- 
ful at All Times — Cabinet Days — A Splendid Horseman — Gives All His 
Time to His Country's Business. 

President Roosevelt came into office under the most 
adverse circumstances, so far as his own political fortuiict. 
were concerned. He succeeded the most popular Presidcnl 
the country has had for many years — a man beloved by poli- 
ticians and the people alike — and while President Roosevelt 
assumed the duties of his office with the confidence of the 
people who knew him, it cannot be truthfully said that at first 
the politicians were with him. The remarkable popularity of 
McKinley, his tactfulness with the Senators and Represent- 
atives in Washington which had established him in a position 
unusually different from factionism or dislike, were really 
stumbling-blocks in the way of the young President just 
taking upon his shoulders the gigantic responsibilities 
which McKinley had carried with such success. 

CLOSELY WATCHED BY POLITICIANS 

Consequently, the politicians in Washington watched the 
new man very carefully. Some of them heartily hoped that 
he would make mistakes sufficient in a short time to prevent 
any possibility that he would have any show for the Presi- 
dential nomination in 1904. He said little and did little which 

35 



36 ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 

was not very closely analyzed. His reception of officials in his 
office at the White House; his manner of addressing them; in 
fact, his words and mannerisms, did not escape vigilant obser- 
vation. Little was found to cause objection, but that little was 
published all over the country at every opportunity. Presi- 
dent Roosevelt saw what he had to contend with, and then it 
was that he threw into the great task all of the wonderful 
resources at his command. His own tactfulness came into 
play, and in his treatment of Senators and Representatives 
who were partially prejudiced against him, he handled them 
in such a manner as to gradually win them all. He advised 
with them freely, and refrained from the stubbornness and 
strenuosity which it was predicted so freely would be the main 
features of his administration and make-up. 

A TRUE DEMOCRAT 

The new President was as democratic as his predecessor. 
He gave time to the humblest and lowest caller who had busi- 
ness with him, and there was no shutting of doors against any 
man. In six months after entering upon his duties, the Presi- 
dent had many more thousands of friends than at the begin- 
ning. In twelve months these were doubled, and in two years 
his nomination by the Republican party at Chicago was 
assured. There naturally remained a little enmity by those 
who have been disappointed in presidential aspirations them- 
selves, and at one time the opposition had almost succeeded 
in inducing Senator Hanna or some one else to become a 
candidate against the President. Again, however, Mr. 
Roosevelt was equal to the emergency. His conduct was so 
fair, so honorable, and yet so dignified that the opposition had 
almost died away before the death of Senator Hanna, and the 



ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 37 

very men who had attempted to engineer it were coming to 
the White House making amends for their conduct. Some of 
these men were among the most prominent Republicans in 
Congress. Their feeling against the President was based on 
no satisfactory ground, except that he was young, thoroughly 
sincere, and did not give up everything that the politicians 
asked him. Thus it came about that six months before the 
Chicago Convention had officially rendered its decision, the 
President's nomination was a foregone conclusion. 

ALWAYS IN GOOD PHYSICAL CONDITION 

President Roosevelt has always been a hard worker in his 
office, and at the same time he has found some time for out- 
door exercise, which he considered essential to his health and 
to keep himself in good condition so as to serve his country 
best, and his ideas that the sanest and wisest and most active 
mind is to be found in the healthiest body have proven abso- 
lutely correct in his own case. 

HIS BUSIEST HOURS 

Entering his office each morning about nine o'clock, the 
President has remained there until about a quarter of two, 
talking to hundreds of people who desire to see him. After 
an hour at luncheon the President again assumes his duties in 
the office, and when he found opportunity has gone horseback 
riding, walking or indulged in other out-door exercise that 
would keep him in physical condition. His busiest hours, 
however, are those from nine to one-thirty or two. While 
Congress is in session he sees from ten to twenty members of 
Congress every day, besides cabinet officers, national commit- 
teemen, State chairmen, foreign ministers, ambassadors and 



38 ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 

minor officials, representatives of commercial and religious 
bodies, pleasure callers, and many others who cannot be classi- 
fied. How he is able to get through the work and retain the 
good will of all his callers has long been a mystery. 

His office rooms are two, besides the cabinet room, which 
he also uses in the reception of his visitors. His private room 
adjoins the cabinet room, with a sliding door, and just to the 
west of his private room is a little reception room, where his 
doorkeeper places such of his visitors as must be separated 
before the President can see them. From one room to 
another, and from one visitor to another, the President goes, 
entering into conversation, listening and remembering what is 
said to him, making suggestions of a helpful nature, kind and 
thoughtful at all times. Within a half-hour he may talk to a 
United States Senator about the needs of Alaska or the Philip- 
pines; to a Representative about the most comple.x section of 
the Dingley tariff law; to the Secretary of the Treasury about 
the finances of the country; to the Attorney-General about a 
pardon case, and to a national committeeman about the poli- 
tics in his State. In fact, there is no way of realizing the wide 
range of subjects covered in the course of a day's office work 
of the President of the United States. He must listen to every 
case, and know something about them all. If he did not he 
would appear to be an ignorant man, and that would lead to 
slurring remarks about his lack of information and ability. 

ACCESSIBLE TO ANY ONE 

From the subject of political matters, or tne consideration 
of some momentous foreign question, the President in a few 
moments may open his heart and listen in a reverent and 
kindly attitude to some lonely woman who is asking for the 



ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 3g 

pardon of an only son, who has committed some offense of a 
criminal nature, or in violation of the military laws of the 
army or navy of the United States. There is no difference in 
his treatment of this woman in black and that accorded to the 
great Secretary of State. 

CABINET MEETINGS ! 
On cabinet days, Tuesdays and Fridays of each week, 
beginning at eleven o'clock each day, the President sits at the 
head of the big cabinet table, and listens while each cabinet 
officer brings up matters of importance in his respective 
department. The President receives visitors of all classes 
between nine and eleven o'clock, and is often engaged for fif- 
teen or twenty minutes past the cabinet hour, but he 'receives 
all who are waiting for him before he goes in and takes his 
seat in the big chair at the head of the cabinet table. A cabi- 
net meeting is not such a solemn affair as it has often been 
represented. By right of precedent, the Secretary of State is 
the first man to bring up before the President and his fellow 
cabinet officers any business that he may have to lay before 
them. If he has no business, or when he has concluded with 
what he has to say, the Secretary of the Treasury, ranking 
next in the official family, commences to talk about matters in 
his department, and this is the procedure followed unless the 
questions under consideration are of unusual or extreme 
gravity, when departmental affairs are laid aside and the 
President and the entire cabinet discuss the subject which has 
been brought forward. 

A SPLENDID HORSEMAN 

Upon reaching his offices after luncheon in the afternoon, 
the President's custom is to see such visitors as are waiting 



40 ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 

for him, and then to spend some time in dictating letters, or 
public messages and orders to Secretar}' Loeb, and then if he 
finds the time to spare he goes horseback riding with Mrs. 
Roosevelt or some personal friend. He is a splendid horse- 
man, and in that respect he is the idol of the United States 
cavalry. At Chickamauga Park on one occasion since his 
induction into office, he made such a splendid figure on horse- 
back and handled himself so well that every cavalry trooper 
present swore by him and scattered praises of him through- 
out the army of the United States. 

SELDOM WITHOUT GUESTS 

At dinner time, usually 7:30 o'clock in the evening, the 
President is seldom without guests. His hours during the day 
are so crowded with business that he has no time to talk with 
personal friends and political associates on topics other than 
governmental, and his habit is to invite his friends to dinner 
with him. They sit at the table for some time, discussing 
many matters, and then adjourn to the parlors of the White 
House, where the President continues to talk with them until 
a late hour. He never retires before midnight at any time, 
and he is generally out of bed by eight o'clock in the morning. 
Some of the most important conferences of President Roose- 
velt's administration have been held in the private dining- 
rooms and parlors of the White House. It is on these dinner 
occasions that the President not only assembles around him 
his close personal and political friends, but oftentimes the 
wisest of the statesmen in Congress and the greatest of polit- 
ical generals. There he obtains their views on whatever impor- 
tant subject is pending. During the session of Congress the 
policy to be followed by the party in legislation is most often 



ROOSEVELT THE PRESIDENT 41 

under consideration. During political years something about 
the party's future welfare is often discussed. 

DEVOTES ALL HIS TIME 

Thus from early morning to midnight the President gives 
his time to his country's business, and lends all the vigor of 
his intellect and physical energies to meeting the great 
responsibilities thrust upon him. In doing so, too, he is uni- 
formly thoughtful and considerate of those about him and with 
him, and his personality has grown with his experience. 



CHAPTER II 

GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 

Many Cordial Welcomes — Tours of Prominence — The President's Carriage 
Struck by a TroUeycar — Death of Secret Service Oificer Craig — At 
Chattanooga and Chickamauga— Made Few Trips in 1904 — The Presi- 
dential Train — The President a Delightful Companion — Sounding the 
Pulse of the Public. 

President Roosevelt's popularity throughout the country 
has been attested by the enthusiastic receptions extended to 
him by the people of the United States during the various 
trips he made. Even President McKinley, as warmly as he 
was held by the people of the country, received no more cor- 
dial welcomes than President Roosevelt in his tours over the 
United States. Both Presidents came in contact with the 
people directly; talked to them from the rear end of their 
cars; over the platforms and in crowded houses and halls, and 
looking into the faces of those in front of him President 
Roosevelt has had no reason at any time to suppose that there 
was any feeling against him anywhere. Mr. Roosevelt has 
believed that there was no better way of getting close to the 
people than going around among them, talking to them, and 
shaking their hands. 

HAS MADE THIRTY-FIVE TRIPS 

Since his induction into office the President has made 
about thirty-five trips out of Washington. Most of these were 
very short, being for the purpose of making speeches at vari- 

42 



GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 43 

ous points in response to the wishes of conventions, societies, 
etc.; going to his home in Oyster Bay to vote or spend the 
summer; visiting his Ahna Mater and friends at Harvard; 
inspecting affairs at Annapolis and West Point; presenting 
medals for marksmanship at Seagirt, N. J., and short hunting 
trips into Virginia. The President's love for his eldest son, 
Theodore, Junior, and the natural anxiety of a father, induced 
him to spend five days at Groton, Massachusetts, in Febru- 
ary, 1902, when Theodore, Jr., lay at the point of death from 
pneumonia. The faithful father remained at the bedside of 
his son until the crisis had passed. 

HIS TRIP TO CHARLESTON EXPOSITION 

The first tour of prominence taken by the President was to 
the Charleston, S. C, Exposition in April, 1902. The [Presi- 
dent spent some time in Charleston, and was most cordially 
received there. His next trip was to Pittsburg, on the 4th of 
July, 1902, at which time he delivered a speech to 50,000 
people and received an ovation. His speech was significant, 
in connection with his attitude on the trust question, and his 
intention to have the Attorney-General proceed against those 
that were believed to be violating the Sherman and other anti- 
trust laws. Mr. Roosevelt at that time plainly indicated that 
the laws of the country must be obeyed by individuals and 
corporations; that there would be no discriminations against 
one or the other, but that no matter how tremendously 
wealthy a corporation might be it could not exist if it was 
operating in violation of the laws of the United States. It 
was about this time that he directed Attorney-General Knox 
to begin an investigation of the operations of some of the big 
trusts, and these investigations led to the proceedings which 
have become famous in the legal annals of the United States. 



44 GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 

Three important trips were made by the President in the 
late summer and fall of IQ02. One was to the New England 
States, and lasted from August 2d to September 3d. The 
President visited a number of cities in the different States, and 
everywhere was received in the most generous manner. It 
was at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, while on this journey, that he 
came near losing his life. While driving across the country 
his carriage was struck by a trolley car and overturned, killing 
secret service detective Craig, and seriously injuring the Presi- 
dent, former Governor Crane of Massachusetts, and Secretary 
Cortelyou. Despite the severity of his own wounds and the 
seriousness of the shock, the President's first thoughts were 
for the secret service ofificer, who had been knocked from the 
box where he had been riding with the driver. He was very 
much shocked when he learned that Craig had been killed. 
The President was so exasperated with the motorman in 
charge of the electric car that he shook his fist in the direction 
of that individual, and told him that he ought to be severely 
punished. Everywhere on this journey the President made 
speeches which showed the variety of subjects with which he 
was acquainted, and the depth of his information on these 
subjects. The speeches were conservative, thoughtful and 
tactful, and went far toward establishing the President in the 
confidence of the people. 

ATTENDS THE CONVENTION OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN 

Two days after the culmination of the New England trip, 
the President made a journey to Chattanooga, Tennessee, for 
the purpose of attending the biennial convention of the 
Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. On his way to Chatta- 
nooga, the President went through West Virginia, Ohio and 
Kentucky, speaking at Wheeling and several points in Ohio. 



GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 45 

At every one of these places he was received with great 
cordiality, and the people freely applauded his speeches. In 
Chattanooga the locomotive firemen received him with 
warmth, and the people of the city entertained him in the 
most hospitable manner. The firemen elected the President 
an honorary member of their brotherhood, and the speech he 
made to them won for him the lasting friendship of the mem- 
bers of this organization, and of all railroad organizations in 
the United States. The President compared the hazardous 
duties of the engineer, fireman, conductor and other railroad 
employees to those of a soldier, and said that he had often 
declared that there were no class of men in the world braver 
or more noble than railroad men, who took their lives in their 
hands daily, and whose courage, endurance and manhood 
frequently saved hundreds of lives, often at the sacrifice of 
their own. While in Chattanooga, the President went over 
the battlefields of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Chick- 
amauga, having the various points of interest pointed out to 
him by officers in the army posted at that station. He rode 
along the narrow winding road on the top of Missionary 
Ridge, and saw the steep heights where the Federal soldiers 
had rushed persistently upward and thrown the Confederates 
into such confusion as to cause them to flee pell-mell from 
their splendid positions on the crests of the mountains. 

RECALLED THE DAYS OF CHICKAMAUGA 

It was upon his arrival at the battlefield of Chickamauga 
that those with the President and the thousands that were 
assembled there got an e.xhibition of the President's splendid 
horsemanship. The finest troop of cavalry stationed at Chick- 
amauga rode up to the President's carriage, and a splendid 
cavalry charger was put at his disposal, and he vaulted into 



46 GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 

the saddle with the ease of the most experienced and grace- 
ful cavalryman in the country anywhere, and then he was away 
at a pace which unsaddled several of the troopers, caused 
others to lose their caps, and still others to lose their place in 
the ranks. The day was a hot, dusty one, and the cavalcade 
of horsemen, led by the President, soon stirred up a great 
cloud of dust, which made the old soldiers present think of the 
days when a regiment of cavalry was charging in their direc- 
tion. The President outrode any trooper in the company, and 
after that there wasn't a soldier in the post who would not 
have given his life for the Chief Executive. No word or act 
could have done more to place the President in the best spot 
in the hearts of the soldiers than his daring ride across the 
dusty battlefields of Chickamauga that day. 

HIS TRIP OVER THE NORTHWEST 

Returning from Chattanooga, the President stopped at 
Knoxville and other points in Tennessee, visited Asheville, 
North Carolina, and made talks at other points in that State 
and Virginia on his way back. 

Ten days after the return from this tour the President 
started on a five days' trip over the Northwest, visiting Indi- 
ana, Illinois, Michigan, and other States. On this trip the 
great respect and esteem of the people were shown in their 
reception of his speeches and other joyous greetings. 

HIS JOURNEY TO THE PACIFIC COAST 

By far the most extensive journey taken by the President 
during his administration was to the Pacific coast. He started 
from Washington April i, IQ03, and returned June 5th, being 
gone from Washington nearly ten weeks. He not only 
visited practically all of the Middle Western States, but ail 



GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 47 

of the Western States and Territories, and enjoyed a world 
of curious experiences and the happiness of again seeing 
that the people loved and respected him. Part of this trip 
was spent in Yellowstone Park. After visiting most of the 
Northwestern States, the Park was reached about the middle 
of April. The ground in the Park was nearly all covered 
with snow and ice, but the President lived out in the open 
most of the time with the army officers stationed there and 
with John Burroughs, the great naturalist. Burroughs knows 
something of all the animals and birds in the world, and while 
on his daily trips with the President through Yellowstone 
Park he explained a great deal about the life and history of 
the animals abounding there. The President's health was 
greatly recuperated by the stay in Yellowstone Park, notwith- 
standing the severity of the weather and despite the fact that 
at times the riding horse of Mr. Roosevelt waded through 
snow up to his flanks. The President's arduous work of the 
winter had greatly depleted his energies, and the sojourn in 
this vicinity was unusually valuable to him. 
THE GREAT WHITE FATHER 

Leaving Yellowstone Park the latter part of April, the 
President went through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Missouri and 
Kansas. From St. Louis he moved westward at a fast clip. 
In Arizona he spent a day in the Grand Canyon, and in New 
Mexico he visited many places of historic interest. All 
through these Territories the Indians vied with the white citi- 
zens in paying respect to the President, presenting him with 
blankets, hides and various other trinkets. From the begin- 
ning of his administration no president has had the good will 
of the Indians so freely and fully as Mr. Roosevelt. They often 
visit him at the White House and grin with huge satisfaction 



48 GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 

when they have shaken hands with 'the great white father." 
It has been the policy of the President to see that they were 
not swindled out of their rights and that the treaty obligations 
of the government with them were carried out in letter and 
spirit. 

IN THE YOSEMITE VALLEY 

Through California and the Pacific Coast States the Presi- 
dent was met everywhere by thousands of people, who paid 
tribute to him and who gave testimony of their love and 
esteem for him. While in California the President spent sev- 
eral days in the Yosemite Valley, amid the giant redwood 
trees. In this valley, as in Yellowstone Park, the President 
separated from the other members of his party and completely 
lost himself to everybody among the great redwood trees. 
He kept only one person with him as an escort, and he was 
the most celebrated guide in that region. They spent the 
days and nights in the open, and ate and slept to suit 
themselves. 

The President reached Washington about June 5th, and 
resumed his duties. A few days later he went to Canton, 
Ohio, to participate in the ceremonies commemorating the 
life and services of President McKinley. 

MADE NO TRIPS IN 1904 

During the year 1904 the President made no trips of conse- 
quence. He adopted the policy of spending his time in the 
White House. He took the view that it would be unwise and 
undignified for a president to make trips over the country in 
a year when his political opponents were almost sure to inter- 
pret his journeys as intended for political purposes. The 
President received hundreds of invitations to visit different 




Cninriglil, ISSS, 1,\ R,>rk\viiod' 



THE HERO OF SAN JUAN HILL 



When the news of Dewc's virtorv reached America. Mr. Roosevelt resicjned his position as 

Assistant Secretary of the Naw. "There is nothing more for me to do here." he 

said, "i have got to i^et into tne fight myself." 




MR. ROOSEVELT AS A COWBOY 

In the President's work. "Ranch Life and th- Hunting Trail." the author pays the following tribute 
to the rough rider of the plains * Bnve. hospitable, hardy and adTenturous, 

he is the grim pioneer of our land." 



GETTING CLOSE TO THE I'EOPLIC 49 

parts of the country prior to his nomination at the Chicago 
Convention, as well as afterwards, but uniformly declined their 
acceptance. The only invitation he accepted during the 
greater part of the year was to visit the battlefield of Gettys- 
burg on IMay 30th, Decoration Day, and make a speech there. 
He remained in Washington until the middle of the summer, 
when he went to his home in Oyster Bay to spend the 
remainder of vacation. 

CUSTOM ORIGINATED BY PRESIDENT HARRISON 

President Harrison was the first of the Chief Executives to 
start the custom of making extensive tours through the coun- 
try. During his administration he made a trip to the Pacific 
coast. President McKinley likewise went to the Pacific coast 
during his administration, and it was while there that Mrs. 
McKinley came near dying, lying at death's door for many 
days in the city of San P'rancisco. All of these trips are made 
on special trains, placed at the disposal of the presidents by 
the railroad companies of the country. There has frequently 
been criticism by radical members of Congress because of 
that fact, that these trips were made without expense to the 
presidents. It is very likely that none of these trips would 
have been made had the expenditures come from the pockets 
of the presidents. A president does not make a trip because 
of his own desire, but upon the invitation of the people and 
for their gratification. Consequently the railroads have been 
only too glad to place their finest trains at the disposal of the 
president of the United States for such journeys as he may 
care to make. The railroads always profit largely by such 
trips, as they carry thousands of passengers into the cities and 
towns where the president is stopping, and increase their local 
passenger earnings very much thereby. The trip of President 



50 GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 

McKinley to the Pacific coast would have cost him thousands 
of dollars had he been compelled to meet the expenses out of 
his pocket. That of President Roosevelt would likewise have 
cost a great amount of money. In each case there were 
splendid trains of the finest Pullman coaches in the world. 

THE PRESIDENTIAL TRAIN 

The trains consisted of the President's private car, com- 
partment and sleeping cars for members of the cabinet, news- 
paper men, and other persons who traveled with the President, 
dining and buffet cars. The train must be made up with a 
view to the greatest comfort to the president, whose home is 
practically on his car for weeks at a time. He eats and 
sleeps in his car, and is there most of the time. At the con- 
clusion of the journeys the railroads share the expenses, and 
they are only too glad to pay the small proportion set aside to 
each one. The Pennsylvania Railroad has been especially 
courteous to the president of the United States for several 
years. The officials insist upon placing the finest cars and 
trains at the disposal of the president at all times, e.xtending 
every consideration and courtesy. 

President Roosevelt is a charming traveling companion, as 
well as a happy spokesman to the thousands of people who 
stand before him at the various points where he stops. He 
eats well and sleeps well on these trips; talks individually and 
heartily to all the members of his party, no matter in what sta- 
tion in life they may be; looks after the comfort of all of 
them, and at the conclusion of the journeys invariably gives 
liberal fees to the Pullman servants who have waited upon 
him. • 

Naturally the very best food that can be had in the world 
is served to the president and his guests on these journeys, 



GETTING CLOSE TO THE PEOPLE 51 

and the railroad officials vie with the citizens in makinfj tlie 
entertainment of the Chief Executive of the very best kind. 
FEELING THE PULSE OF THE PEOPLE 
The President does not know of any better way to feel the 
pulse and ascertain the sentiments of the men and women of 
the United States than coming in contact with them and 
talking with them face to face on the issues and questions of 
the day. In this way he sounds the pulse of the public and 
keeps in close touch with the desires of the voters. He has 
always been of the belief that the president or any other 
public official should not be unmindful of what the people 
think, and in the next four years he will go about much among 
his constituents. There will be no fear of political criticism 
and the President can go as often as he pleases and spend as 
much time as his duties will permit among those who have so 
often desired his presence with them, and who feel that their 
confidence in him has not been misplaced. 



CHAPTER III 
THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 

Eastern Birth with Western Characteristics — Theodore Roosevelt's Ances- 
tors — Birth— His Youth— His Family Strict Church People — As a Boy 
Was Robust in Spirit but Not in Body — Principal Events of His Life — 
His Books — Remarkable Versatility and Adaptability — An Interesting 
Romance — The Highest Type of an American. 

Theodore Roosevelt, twenty-sixth President of the United 
States, was pronounced by Senator Depew, in his speech at 
Philadelphia that nominated Mr. Roosevelt for the vice-presi- 
dency, as "an Eastern man with Western characteristics." 
This description fits him perfectly. 

ANCESTRY OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

He was born in the East, but he received a training and an 
experience in the great rugged open and hustling West, 
among its hospitable and communicative people and manly 
men that stamps him as a man possessed of sympathies and 
trails that are more Western than Eastern. Theodore Roose- 
velt's mother was a Southern woman and a reference to his 
chronology indicates that he was born about three years 
before the great war between the South and North began. 

He was descended from Claes Martenzoon Van Rose- 
velt, who came from Holland to the then very New World 
indeed, in 1649. In addition to Dutch blood, he is blended 
with Scotch-Irish and French Huguenot blood through other 
ancestors. One writer says of him: 

58 



THE LAUNCHING OF A ATAN 53 

"But thouuMi Theodore Roosevelt's name is a Holland one, 
he is almost in equal parts Dutch, French, Irish and Scotch. 
These commingled streams of blood show in his character, 
for, as occasion calls for it, he manifests the Dutch phlegm, 
the Scotch pertinacity, the French chivalry, and the true Irish 
wit." His father was Theodore Roosevelt of New York City, 
and his mother Martha Bulloch of Roswell, Georgia. 

AN EXPONENT OF PRACTICAL QUALITIES 

Theodore Roosevelt is an example of a type of American 
justifying the experiment of democratic government on a 
large scale. He is a man of good family and private fortune, 
well educated and of high character, who has devoted his 
abilities and energies to practical politics, and has risen 
steadily as a public servant by reason of his probity, intelli- 
gence, and force. 

HAS STUDIED THE COUNTRY 

His keen interest in his country has led him to make fre- 
quent hunting trips in the West, where he owns a ranch, and 
has made himself an authority on hunting; and he has studied 
the conditions of that civilization, and then written books con- 
cerning it. This interest in the West has extended to its his- 
tory, and has produced a capital historical survey of the 
stirring tlramatic development of the Western States; much 
of the material upon which the account is based being drawn 
first from Government archives, and involving painstaking, 
independent labor. Mr. Roosevelt's other writings — histori- 
cal, biographical, or of the lighter essay sort — are robustly 
American in spirit, and enjoyable in point of style. He is a 
vigorous personality, whether in life or literature. 



54 The launching of a man 

Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City on 
October 27, 1858, and is the son of a successful business man 
and philanthropist well known and honored in that city. The 
son's uncle, R. B. Roosevelt, is also distinguished as politician 
and author. 

RESUME OF HIS LIFE 

Theodore was educated at Harvard, being graduated in 
1880. He at once interested himself in local politics, and 
became a New York State Assemblyman in 18S2. In 1884 he 
was a member of the National Republican Convention; in 1886, 
a Republican candidate for mayor of New York; in 1889 he was 
made United States Civil Service Commissioner, serving until 
1895, when he became president of the New York Board of 
Police Commissioners, holding this position until 1897, when 
he accepted the post, offered him by President McKinley, of 
Assistant Secretary of the Navy. When the Spanish war 
broke out he became colonel of the famous Rough Riders 
regiment which served in Cuba so gallantly. In 1900 he was 
nominated at the Philadelphia Convention for Vice-President, 
and became President on the death of President McKinley, 
Sept. 14, 1901. 

ROOSEVELT AS AN AUTHOR 

Mr. Roosevelt began to write books as a young man of 
twenty-five. His "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman" appeared 
in 1883. Other books, in order of their publication, are, "His- 
tory of the Naval War in 181 2," "The Lives of Thomas Hart 
Benton and of Gouverneur Morris in the 'American Statesmen 
Series'," "Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail," "Essays on 
Practical Politics," "The Winning of the West," "History of 
New York City," and "The Wilderness Hunter." This is a 



THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 55 

considerable literary record for so young a writer. His papers 
descriptive of his hunting, camp and ranch life are very read- 
able; but Mr. Roosevelt's most important work has been the 
presentation of different phases of the American historical 
development. 

THE WINNING OF THE WEST 

His studies on the Naval War and the New York munic- 
ipality are done in the true spirit of scholarly investigation. 
Most comprehensive and valuable of all is his "The Winning 
of the West," in which he tells the story with admirable fresh- 
ness, grasp and a sense of the drama underlying the evolution 
of the Western States. His taste for experience in the adven- 
turous overcoming of material difficulties, and the rough-and- 
ready life of the open, have led him to select sympathetically 
a fine subject, which he has treated in a way to re-create the 
past, and make this series very acceptable for its clear, vivid 
sketches of pioneer conditions out of which the West has 
sprung. 

What interests Mr. Roosevelt here, and in his biographies, 
is the development of American personalities and of the 
American idea from all manner of untoward environment. 

Mr. Roosevelt, because of his stalwart independence and 
aggressive honesty in political life, has become a hero with 
those who are striving for the purification of American politics. 

VIGOROUS THOUGHT AND WORTHY IDEALS 

He has a strong force for good, and his books reflect the 
same quality of vigorous thought and worthy ideals. His 
sturdy Americanism is to be felt alike in his acts and words. 
Indeed, he may be said to have all the characteristics, in the 
highest and most successful degree, of the "typical American." 



56 THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 

He is a sportsman, ranchman, author, orator, politician, soldier 
and statesman. He is learned, cultured, progressive and brave. 

KNOWS THE COUNTRY V/ELL 

He knows every part of this great Republic, and the condi- 
tions that exist everjnvhere in it. He is thoroughly acquainted 
with every class and condition of people who inhabit the 
different sections of the nation. He is equally well at home 
in Washington with the polished diplomat, the intriguing poli- 
tician, the horny-handed laborer, the hard-working farmer, the 
ranchman, the miner, the mechanic, the merchant, the banker, 
the lawyer, or the man of leisure. His public addresses to the 
various classes of people in the several States indicate his 
versatility, his adaptability, and his thorough knowledge of 
the nation of which he is the Chief Executive. 

One of Theodore Roosevelt's ancestors, Nicholas Roose- 
velt, was a member of the provincial Congress in 1775. He 
was also a member of the Senate in 1786, and during the same 
year was president of the Bank of New York. Another of his 
ancestors, also named Roosevelt, was a rival of the great 
Robert Fulton, as a steamboat inventor. The vertical pad- 
dle-wheel used on the old-fashioned steamboats originated 
with him. 

ONE OF HIS ANCESTORS 

Like our President, this Roosevelt of more than two cen- 
turies ago was an adventurous spirit and desired to see and 
explore his own country. The Ohio and Mississippi rivers 
were far into the wilderness. In this trackless and unexplored 
region this ancestor of Theodore Roosevelt went on an exten- 
sive surveying trip. He spent several years as a surveyor and 
explorer along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers; so it will be 
seen that Theodore Roosevelt's ancestors were among our 



THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 5; 

earliest Western pioneers. No one can very well criticise our 
President for emulating the example set by his worthy ances- 
tor in identifying himself with the great West. Theodore 
Roosevelt, whom in our bursts of enthusiasm we call "Our 
Teddy," came honestly by his instinct to go out West and get 
broadened out. 

This ancestor of tvv'o centuries and a quarter ago estab- 
lished a boat yard at the head of the Ohio River at Pittsburg, 
and built the "New Orleans," the first steamboat that ever 
plowed its way through this watercourse. 

HIS BOYHOOD 

Theodore Roosevelt was born in that old, aristocratic por- 
tion of New York known as Gramercy Park. The family resi- 
dence was in East Twentieth Street, just beyond F"ifth Avenue, 
the number being 28. Many of the people in that neighbor- 
hood remember most vividly the childhood days of "Little 
Teddy." One of the neighbors, in speaking of his infancy and 
boyhood days, has said: 

"As a young boy he was thin-shanked, pale and delicate, 
giving little promise of the amazing vigor of his later life. 
To avoid the rough treatment of the public school, he was 
tutored at home, also attended a private school for a time — 
Cutler's, one of the most famous of its day. Most of his sum- 
mers, and in fact two-thirds of the year, he spent at the 
Roosevelt farm near Oyster Bay, then almost as distant in 
time from New York as the Aclirondacks now are. 

"For many years he was slow to learn and not strong 
enough to join in the play of other boys; but as he grew older 
he saw that if he ever amounted to anything he must acquire 
vigor of body. With characteristic energy he set about 
developing himself. 



58 THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 

"He swam, he rowed, he ran, he tramped the hills back of 
the Bay, for pastimes, studying and cataloguing the birds 
native to his neighborhood, and thus he laid the foundation of 
that incomparable physical vigor from which rose his future 
prowess as a ranchman and hunter." 

HIS BROTHER ELLIOTT 

President Roosevelt's father was wise enough to patronize 
the public schools by sending his children through them. 
Here they learned the American lesson of mixing with their 
neighbors' children and of taking the place their abilities 
entitled them to in the classes. There were two boys and two 
girls in the family. Theodore's brother Elliott was the 
stronger and hardier of the two. Very naturally, the brother 
in a large measure became the champion and guardian of 
young Theodore. The future President, however, was aggres- 
sive enough, and even in his boyhood days his individuality 
asserted itself on all occasions. He had not, however, the 
strength and endurance to keep pace with his brother and 
their companions at the games and on that leveler of all pub- 
lic school children, the playground. 

THE TRUE AMERICAN SPIRIT 

The children were given the best educational advantages 
to be obtained. They attended private institutions, as did 
most of the children whose parents were wealthy and belonged 
to the same set. The family lived right in an atmosphere of 
the old Dutch stock, which had advanced to a high premium 
years before Theodore was born. The spirit of his famjly, 
however, was for sterling quality, merit and high character in 
their children rather than an exclusiveness from those around 
them who happened to be less fortunate. They were intent 
upon preserving close and intimate relations with the world 



THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 



59 



as they found it. This is certainly the true American spirit 
and is reflected in our President to-day in the highest possible 
degree. Tlieodore Roosevelt is a striking illustration of what 
early training \vill do for a man. 

A SYSTEMATIC CHURCH-GOER 

The Roosevelts were strict church people. They belonged 
to the Dutch Reformed Church. All of the chiltlren were 
devoted to their church and attended it and worked with it 
with all their heart and soul. The church-going of the Roose- 
velts was not a mere perfunctory matter. The sermons that 
young Theodore listened to, because of their length, would 
try the patience of too many of our boys in this day. There 
was too masterful a hand and heart back of Theodore Roose- 
velt's church-going to permit or desire his escaping any of the 
services. Through all his busy life, Mr. Roosevelt has fol- 
lowed closely the habits of church-going that he formed in his 
childhood and boyhood days. He still retains the traditions 
of his ancestors in their idea regarding the Sabbath and relig- 
ious services for the wdiole family. 

OVERCAME THE IMPEDIMENT OF A DELICATE FRAME 

The high straight-backed seats of his old church in New 
York are something of a memory to him, for new and more 
modern pews have taken their place. But the relation which 
he began with that old family church continues to this day. 

The fact of Theodore's delicate physique was a matter of 
deep concern for his parents. He possessed the robust spirit 
of his ancestors and with it presented a more volatile quality 
than is usually found in the Hollander with his phlegmatic 
temperament. Young Theodore had the energy and ambi- 
tion, but did not possess the physical force to back up his 



6o THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 

desires and his purposes. His lack of muscular powers caused 
him to suffer throughout his boyhood days, in comparison 
Avith his schoolmates and companions. 

With the will power that has carried him over so many 
obstacles, Theodore resolved to overcome his impediment of 
a delicate frame. He turned his effort and time to developing 
the strength which Nature had denied him and which he so 
much desired. He went about this task systematically. He 
was out of doors in the open air continually. He exercised 
by means of walking and horseback riding, and other physical 
exercises. We have in this robust man to-day an example of 
what determination and a systematic course of physical culture 
will do for a delicate young person. 

At school Theodore Roosevelt was from the first a good 
student and a model scholar. We have read of many great 
men who were dullards at school. It is recorded that General 
Grant, who graduated in the class of '44, was almost at its foot, 
and that Walter Scott, the great novelist, was most stupid at 
school. Neither could apply himself to a book. They devel- 
oped great talent, however, later in life. They began to be 
great men at about the age that Theodore Roosevelt was 
when he entered the White House as the nation's Chief Exec- 
utive. Theodore Roosevelt, however, was a bookworm from 
his earliest days, and his devotion to study was inspiring for 
his fellow students. 

A LOVE STORY 

An interesting romance is told of Theodore's early life. 
He became acquainted with Edith Carow, a girl of his own 
age. She was a fellow student at school and belonged to his 
same social set. A most charming romance continued between 
the two from the time they were mere children until he 



THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 6i 

entered upon college life at Harvard. They had been con- 
stantly together during their earlier school days, and in those 
old days they had spent many hours together over their games 
in Union Park. Her home was in Fourteenth Street, very 
near Union Square. This was in a very aristocratic part of 
the city in those daj's, a strictly residential district, and the 
great business blocks that now surround Union Square had 
not begun to appear in that day. 

Young Theodore and Edith met at the same birthday par- 
ties and went over their lessons together in the same school. 
This was sufficient reason for their intimacy. Later, Edith was 
placed in a fashionable boarding school. Miss Comstock's 
School, where Edith attended, had on its rolls many young 
ladies at that time who were great friends of Edith's, and to 
this day vividly recall her romance with young Theodore. It 
is unnecessary to say that they all enjoy relating it. 

Edith's father was a business man, and her mother was, 
by birth, Miss Gertrude Tyler of Connecticut. Her father 
was General Tyler. Her family was one of wealth and social 
position. Theodore occupied a similar position in society, and 
his father was a lawyer and judge and had been in turn an 
alderman, a member of the Legislature at Albany, and a rep- 
resentative in Congress. 

SHE LIKED TEDDY ROOSEVELT 

Edith Kermit Carow has said, in the happy, established 
days since her marriage, that she had "liked Teddy Roosevelt 
in those distant times because he could do so much more than 
she could." And yet he was a delicate stripling of a boy, while 
she was possessed of all the vigor of a healthy girlhood. But 
Theodore Roosevelt had strong will power, determination, 
independence and sincerity, and this was enough for Edith, 



62 THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 

Theodore's brother testifies to the fact that Theodore 
never permitted himself nor Edith to be imposed upon. He 
was ready to champion her cause at all times, and this meant 
everything to Edith. Later in life Theodore discovered more 
than a friend of his childhood days in the girl companion of 
his leisure hours. He had found one who sympathized with 
him and his work. Moreover, she had faith in him and 
encouraged him. When mature years came, after sorrow 
had visited him, he found in her the one to share his home, to 
increase his fortune, and to exalt and make sacred his success 

LAYING THE FOUNDATION 

Theodore, after a thorough preparation, entered Harvard 
University, determined to take the full college course. Here 
he spent four years. He proved at Harvard that he was well 
equipped for the work before him. He had taken the great- 
est delight in history and civil government as studies. Mathe- 
matics was something of a task, but he had made himself 
master of his inclinations and desires. This explains why he 
could apply himself to mathematics with success. He was 
imaginative, and mathematics in any of the branches never 
was attractive to an imaginative man. He loved books of 
adventure. He was thoroughly familiar with the story of his 
own country. He also was well informed regarding modern 
Europe. He had been an incessant reader and student of his- 
tory. This was easy for him, but he made up his mind to 
devote himself to studies less attractive for him. He realized 
that this was necessary to give him a well-rounded and per- 
fectly-balanced education. The mental training he secured in 
following out his determination must be in large part respon- 
sible for the close-knit intellectual fiber which his manhood has 
revealed. It was the substantial structure upon which his 



THE LAUNCHING OF A MAN 63 

later fancy could build, just as his acquired physical strength 
formed a magazine from which his tireless energy might draw 
without fear of exhausting it. 

During the last McKinley campaign it was said that "Theo- 
dore Roosevelt was born with a gold spoon in his mouth." 
But the charge is unfair. He was an ordinary boy as to men- 
tal attainments, and considerably under the average in phys- 
ical strength. Whatever success has come to him is his from 
an inherent will that would not brook defeat in any line, 
rather than from peculiar advantages which he inherited. 

He was born with many social advantages and with wealth. 
But these have failed to bring success to thousands of men. 
We ourselves can cite instances where wealth and social posi- 
tion have more often been a stumbling-block to young men 
rather than a help in gaining for them success and position. 
Certainly Theodore Roosevelt is one of the most striking 
examples in America of a young man who has advanced sim- 
ply because of his own merit. 

He is a type of American manhood that we are all proud of. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 

The President's Wife and Family — Mrs. Roosevelt a Domestic Woman— 
Receives Many Visitors — The White House Office — How the Business 
is Conducted^The President's Official Household — A Visit from Carrie 
Nation — Shaking Hands with Three Thousand People in One Day — 
Marvelous Knowledge of Foreign Countries— The Army and Navy — 
The White House Residence — Social Customs — New Year's Day. 

Edith Kermit Roosevelt, wife of President Roosevelt, was 
Lorn in Norwich, Conn., on Aug. 6, 1861, and is about three 
years younger than the President. She is the daughter of 
Charles and Gertrude Elizabeth Tyler Carow; granddaughter 
of Isaac and Eliza Mowatt Carow, and of Daniel and Emily 
Lee Tyler, and a descendant of Isaac Ouereau and Judith 
Ouentin (Huguenots), who emigrated from France after the 
revocation of the edict of Nantes, first to Holland' and then to 
New York City, and of Job Tyler and Mary, his wife, who 
emigrated from Shropshire, England, were admitted to the 
town of Newport, Rhode Island, 1638 (Colonial Records, Vol. 
I, page 92), and settled in Andover, Mass., 1639. She was 
educated in New York City, and was married Dec. 2, 1886, to 
Theodore Roosevelt. 

THE PRESIDENT'S FAMILY 

The children of the President and Mrs. Roosevelt are: 
Theodore, Jr., born Sept. 13, 1S87; Kermit, born Oct. 10, 1889; 
Ethel Carow, born Aug. 10, 1891; Archibald Bulloch, born 

64 



THE HOME OE THE PRESIDENT 65 

April 9, 1S94, and Quentin, born Nov. 19, 1S97. Alice Roose- 
velt is the daughter of the President's first wife. 

All of the President's children attended school at the 
Little Cove school at Oyster Bay. It is the village public 
school, and is presided over by Miss Provost. Miss Provost 
has been at the head of the Little Cove public school at the 
President's home town for many years, and she enjoys the 
distinction of having been the teacher of the President's chil- 
dren, with the e.xception of the two younger, in their primary 
studies. The two youngest children have been attending the 
public school in Washington; for the President has lived there 
since they reached the school age. As a matter of fact, when 
Mr. Roosevelt came to Washington as President, all the chil- 
dren went into the Force School, one of the leading public 
schools of the national capital. So it will be seen that the 
public schools of the country are considered good enough by 
the President of the United States and his wife for their chil- 
dren to attend. After becoming pretty well advanced in the 
public schools, the President's two oldest sons entered a pri- 
vate school at Groton, Massachusetts, to finish their prepara- 
tion for college. Miss Ethel, after attending the public school 
for a time, entered the Cathedral School in Washington for 
girls. It is an Episcopal school. 

A TRUE HOUSEWIFE 

Mrs. Roosevelt is very domestic in her tastes. If the 
housewives of the land could see Mrs. Roosevelt around her 
home, which is now the White House, she would appear to 
them just as any ordinary lady in her household affairs. 
Necessarily, in so large an establishment as the White House, 
she must employ a great many servants. But she superin- 
tends her own household affairs, and personally attends to the 



66 THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 

wants of the children. She selects all the clothing for herself 
as well as for the children, and very often she is seen in the 
leading stores of Washington on shopping expeditions. She, 
of course, visits these establishments in her carriage. Not 
only does she do this, but she attends to the marketing — at 
least she directs it each day. 

MANY SOCIAL OBLIGATIONS 

With her very large family, it is necessary for Mrs. Roose- 
velt to spend a great deal of her time in thinking about their 
wants and necessities, and planning for them. She, of course, 
has a young woman who acts as her private secretary. It 
would be impossible for her to attend to both her household 
and her social duties without some help of this kind. She has 
a great many letters to answer. All kinds of women's societies 
throughout the country write to the first lady of the land upon 
all topics imaginable. Delegations of ladies, and ladies' soci- 
eties are constantly visiting Washington. About the first 
place pilgrims to the national capital think of visiting is the 
White House. It is but natural that the ladies should want to 
see Mrs. Roosevelt. 

HOW VISITORS ARE ADMITTED 

Visitors are admitted to the White House residence by 
getting a card from the secretary at the White House office. 
The hours for visiting the White House residence are from 
one until three, daily, unless Mrs. Roosevelt is having a recep- 
tion. There has been an innovation at the White House since 
Mr. Roosevelt became President. Up to that time, and for a 
short time after he succeeded President McKinley, the presi- 
dent's office had always been in one of the rooms in the resi- 
dence proper. Other rooms were occupied by the private 



THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 67 

secretary to the president and his assistants, and one of the 
large hallways was given up as waiting-rooms for visitors. In 
addition to this another room was given up as a visitors' 
reception room. Under this condition of affairs, doorlieepers, 
ushers, and secret service men occupied the main entrance, 
and stood at the various doors in that portion of the White 
House, on the second floor, used as the business office of the 
president. It can be seen that this was not a very agreeable 
or satisfactory arrangement. There is hardly a business man 
in the country who would care to have his office at his resi- 
dence, and be obliged to stay there all the time. Besides, the 
ladies of any family might object to having the men folks 
around all of the time. 

THE NEW WHITE HOUSE OFFICES 

Now this condition is completely changed. None of the 
business of the President whatever is now conducted at the 
White House residence. In the old daj's, or before the 
improvements that were completed in the winter of 1901-02, 
there was a conservatory just to the west of the White House 
that was built in the time of President Jackson. This con- 
servatory was the pride of Mrs. Hayes, Mrs. Cleveland, and 
other "first ladies" who occupied the executive mansion. It 
was extended, until now it is some two hundred feet long. 
At its end, and right at the edge of the White House grounds, 
directly opposite the great government building occupied by 
the State, W^ar and Navy Departments, has been erected the 
White House office. President Roosevelt was the first Presi- 
dent to occupy this ofifice. The first room upon entering is the 
public reception room. To the immediate right, and nearest 
the door, is a small room with telephones and typewriters for 
the use of the newspaper men who go to the White House to 



68 THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 

get the news that is published each day for the benefit of the 
public. The visitor to the White House will find from two to 
four newspaper correspondents in the White House press 
room at all times during the day. The next door on the right 
leads to where the force of clerks and messengers employed 
there are at work, or where they make their headquarters. 

THE COLORED GUARDIAN 

Immediately to the left of this entrance is seated an old 
colored man named Simmons, who has been the doorkeeper 
at the office of the private secretary to the President ever 
since President Grant occupied the White House. Simmons 
is one of the few men who do not go out with a change of 
administration. He stayed at his post right along during the 
two administrations of Grover Cleveland. 

OFFICES OF THE SECRETARY 

Through the door which Simmons guards is the President's 
secretary, IVIr. William Loeb, Jr., and the President's assistant 
secretary, Mr. Barnes. There is a telephone on Mr. Barnes' 
desk, but Mr. Loeb does not have a telephone at his desk. 
When the White House is called up by telephone, the name 
of the person calling is always asked for by the clerk who 
attends to the telephone at the White House office. The 
clerk then tells Mr. Barnes that some one wishes to speak to 
Mr. Loeb, or have him take a message to the President. 
Cranks and all sorts of people are continually calling up the 
White House. If the person calling is favorably known, and 
a person of any standing, there is no trouble at all about 
delivering a message, the same as to any ordinary business 
establishment. Very often the White House is called up on 
the long distance telephone, from New York, Philadelphia, 



THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 69 

Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Louisville, 
or Atlanta. 

On the extreme left of the reception room, on entering the 
White House office, is the door leading through to the Presi- 
dent's reception room on the right, and the cabinet room 
straight ahead, through the little ante-room, where Captain 
Loeftier, with an assistant, is stationed. The assistant stands 
at the door, between the public reception room and the little 
ante-room, where Captain Loeffler sits. It is necessary for 
this doorkeeper to be a very diplomatic man, for he is accosted 
by all the different types of humanity imaginable. Two uni- 
formed doorkeepers stand at the outer door, and from one to 
three secret service men are stationed in the public reception 
room to scrutinize all strangers. These men are so trained 
and experienced that they can usually tell at a glance when a 
caller is a crank or a person inclined to make trouble in case 
they should get at the President. 

VISIT FROM CARRIE NATION 

When Carrie Nation came to Washington in the winter of 
1904, the secret service men and the doorkeepers knew her very 
well, but had no idea she would create a disgraceful disturb- 
ance. It will be remembered that she got into Secretary 
Loeb's room. She insisted that the Secretary tell her whether 
or not the President smoked cigarettes and drank while on 
his trip to the West two years before. She said she heard that 
he had, and she came here to find out, and demanded to know. 
She became hysterical, and the Secretary was obliged to ask 
the secret service men to show her the way out. It will be 
remembered that during that afternoon she visited the gallery 
of.the United States Senate, and created a scene by screaming 
out in an excited manner, in her efforts to make a speech, and 



70 THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 

this during a session of this greatest and most dignified of all 
deliberative bodies. I state this to indicate how unexpectedly 
at times persons will visit the White House and attempt to do 
those things that are not permissible in a civilized country. 

As a matter of fact, President Roosevelt does not drink, 
and is one of the most exemplary men in his personal habits 
who have ever occupied the White House. This is not stated 
because it is necessary to give the dignity of a denial to any 
insinuation that an excitable woman like Carrie Nation, how- 
ever well-meaning she may be, could make. 

SECRET SERVICE MEN ON THE WATCH 

It is plain that the visitor, when entering the reception 
room, is well inspected before he approaches the doorkeeper 
at the private secretary's door immediately in front of him, or 
the doorkeeper on the extreme left, in the corner, which leads 
into the President's reception room. If the doorkeeper is a 
bit puzzled, Captain LoefiHer approaches to discover for him- 
self what the visitor desires. The secret service men, mean- 
while, are closely watching, and if Captain Loeffler discovers 
that he has encountered a crank, one or more of the secret 
service men may become a listener, and if the visitor becomes 
unreasonable or boisterous the secret service men may take 
him or her to one side and quietly try to engage them in 
pleasant conversation, in order to discover just what manner 
of person they have to deal with. 

THE PERCENTAGE OF CRANKS SMALL 

Of course these cases do not come along very often. The 
percentage of such is very small indeed, for the number of 
visitors at the White House office will average hundreds each 
day; and while the percentage of dangerous persons and cranks 



THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 71 

is small, the percentage of these who have become assassins in 
the last half century is also small. The nation suffered the 
loss of Lincoln, Garfield, and McKinley at the hands of assas- 
sins. In none of these cases did any one know but themselves 
of their desperate intentions. 

President Roosevelt has shaken hands with as many as 
three thousand people at the White House in a single day. 
At the public receptions, which are held at night, four or five 
times each winter, he has taken the hand of as many as five 
thousand people several times during the social season. The 
daily stream of visitors who come to call upon the President 
always see him at the White House office. Cabinet officers, 
senators and congressmen always walk right in by the door- 
keeper, for it is not necessary for them to send in their cards. 
After passing through the little ante-room where Captain 
Loeffler sits, there is a door on the right leading into the 
reception room which is between the large room of the Presi- 
dent's private secretary and the President's own private ofifice, 
with doors connecting all three rooms. Straight ahead from 
the ante-room entrance is the door leading into the cabinet 
room, where the President and the cabinet meet on Tuesdays 
and Fridays of each week. 

CONSIDERATE OF OLD SOLDIERS 

Distinguished callers, such as those mentioned above, in 
case the President is engaged in his private office, wait until 
he is ready to see them by sitting in the reception room or the 
cabinet room. Visitors not belonging to the official family 
hand their card to Captain Loeftler, who presents it to the 
President. The President instructs Captain Loeffler when he 
will be able to see the visitor. President Roosevelt is very 
considerate of the old soldier who drops into Washington and 



^2 THE HUME OF THE PRESIDENT 

simply desires to take the President by the hand and speak to 
him face to face. President Roosevelt has the reputation of 
turning no man and no woman away who desires to speak to 
him. He has a kindly word for every one, and any person 
who knows President Roosevelt knows that he is sincere. 
No one has ever yet charged him with insincerity. President 
Roosevelt can converse with the fond mother about her chil- 
dren, and there is no man who enjoys seeing the little ones as 
does the President. He can converse with equal facility with 
the cowboy on the plains, the mining man from Colorado. 
California, or the Klondike, the fisherman from Cape Cod or 
the Columbia River, the cotton grower from the South, the 
wheat grower from the Mississippi Valley, the general farmer, 
East or West, the mechanic, the locomotive engineer, the fire- 
man, the contluctor, the steamboat pilot or master, and 
steamship captain. 

CALLS FROM DIPLOMATIC OFFICERS 

The consular and diplomatic officers ot the United States, 
who frequently drop in during their visits from foreign lands, 
are surprised at the knov.'ledge the President possesses of 
each foreign country, and the relations of this nation with the 
powers of the world. 

The ambassadors of the great European and Asiatic 
powers, who are stationed in Washington, are unanimous in 
their praise of the President and the information he has ot 
and the humane consideration he has for the people of all 
climes. The army and navy officers know that they have in 
the President a safe and capable commander-in-chief of the 
armed forces of the United States. He has belonged to both 
the navy and the army. It is not unusual for enlisted men in 
the army and navy to call ujjon the President. He takes 



THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 73 

them by the hand heartily, and he realizes in the most prac- 
tical manner that upon them depends the real strength of the 
army and navy. He knows that each one of these men is a 
being of intelligence. No one knows as does President Roose- 
velt that in almost any regiment of United States soldiers can 
be found men who understand the practical trades to such an 
extent that they are all represented in each thousand men in 
the army. Among that number of United States soldiers may 
be found locomotive engineers, firemen, blacksmiths, machin- 
ists, civil engineers, telegraph operators, men who can con- 
struct telegraph lines, carpenters, brick masons, etc. There is 
hardly a man in the United States army who cannot read and 
write. This is not true of any other army in the world, 
to such an extent. President Roosevelt appreciates this 
thoroughly. 

I have told you about the White House office and how the 
President receives there during the business day. The long 
extension connecting the new White House office with the 
White House proper, which is a continuation of the old con- 
servatory, as stated, contains the same style of windows, to 
correspond with those that were made during the administra- 
tion of Andrew Jackson. 

CONVENIENCE OF THE EXTENSION 

The President has a door leading from his office into this 
long extension, and by walking through the two hundred feet 
he is at the residence. During rainy weather he can walk 
through on a level with the ground floor, and be sheltered. 
On pleasant days he can walk on top, which is on a level with 
the second floor. In either case he is not exposed to the 
public view. 

On the opposite side of the White House residence, and 



74 THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 

extending almost to the street, on the east side of the man- 
sion, is an extension which nearly corresponds with the one 
described on the west side. It will be seen that with the 
White House office and the two extensions on either side of 
the mansion, the present building covers the full width of the 
White House grounds. 

In former days, before the improvements were made, those 
who attended the public receptions were obliged to enter the 
mansion from the front entrance. In those days lines of 
people, reaching far into the street, could be seen on evenings 
when a public reception was being held. Now the people who 
attend these receptions enter from the east side through the 
new extension, which has ample space for protecting the visit- 
ors from inclement or cold weather, as they stand in line, each 
waiting, as the line moves on, to shake the President's hand, 
and pass into the East Room, where the people linger to chat 
with each other. 

RECEPTION ON NEW YEAR'S DAY 

There is one public reception each year. This is held on 
New Year's Day, and has been the custom for a long time. 
The people of all classes form in line and each patiently waits 
his or her turn to shake the President by the hand. President 
Roosevelt is one of the most cordial hand-shakers and delight- 
ful men to meet who have ever entered public life. Every per- 
son who meets him is struck by his forceful individuality. At 
every public reception he has held since he has been Presi- 
dent, he has waited patiently until the last man, woman and 
child in the line passed through, so that no one would be dis- 
appointed in not having the privilege of taking their President 
by the hand. 



THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 75 

PUBLIC INTRODUCTION 

As each person passes alonir the Hne and gets near to 
where the President is standing, Colonel Symons, who has 
been the President's aide until the present summer, would ask 
each person his or her name. Upon having the name pro- 
nounced, the Colonel would introduce each one to the Presi- 
dent, who would extend his hand in the right cordial 
Roosevelt fashion, and give each a hearty hand-shake. It can 
be imagined what a task it must be to shake hands with from 
five to seven thousand people as they pass along. Colonel 
Bromwell, the President's aide, acts in this capacity during the 
social season of 1904-05. 

THE ORDEAL OF SHAKING HANDS 

Mrs. Roosevelt stands alongside the President at these 
public receptions After the President has shaken hands with 
each, he introduces each one to Mrs. Roosevelt, who stands, 
usually holding a large bouquet of flowers in her hand. Mrs. 
Roosevelt does not shake hands with the visitors, but simply 
bows. So much hand-shaking is a great trial to a very strong 
man like President Roosevelt, and it would be impossible for 
any woman to have the endurance to undertake the task of 
shaking hands with several thousand people. As it is. Mrs. 
Roosevelt is very often obliged to leave before the President 
is through with the hand-shaking. 

WOMEN OF THE WHITE HOUSE 

Mrs. McKinley was not strong enough to stand up at these 
receptions. She sat in a chair by the side of the President, 
and would bow to each visitor as they passed on. The wives 
of the cabinet officers stand along to the right of Mrs. Roose- 
velt. Mrs. Hay, wife of the Secretary of State, stands nearest 
to Mrs. Roosevelt, as the Secretary of State ranks highest 



76 THE HOME OF THE PRESIDENT 

among the cabinet officers. After Mrs. Hay the ladies stand 
in line and bow to the visitors as they pass along, as follows: 
the wife of the Secretary of the Treasury, the wife of the 
Secretary of War, the wife of the Attorney-General, the wife 
of the Postmaster-General, the wife of the Secretary of the 
Navy, the wife of the Secretary of the Interior, the wife of 
the Secretary of Agriculture, and the wife of the Secretary of 
Commerce and Labor. In cases where a cabinet officer is a 
widower, as is the case with Secretary Wilson, of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, his daughter, or some other lady of the 
family, is entitled to the place. The visitors are not intro- 
duced to any of the cabinet ladies, but simply pass on into the 
East Room. The cabinet officers themselves generally stand 
back of the ladies. 

FOUR OTHER RECEPTIONS 

In addition to the public reception there are four other 
receptions each winter. To attend these it is necessary to 
have an invitation. 

These invitations are sent to all the officials in Wash- 
ington, their wives and daughters who are in society, as well 
as to resident society in the national capital according to a 
selected list. One of these receptions is given in honor of the 
Army and Navy. The other three are as follows: one in honor 
of the Diplomatic Corps at Washington, one in honor of the 
members of Congress, and another in honor of the Judiciary. 



CHAPTER V 

DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 

Visits from Societies— Mrs. Roosevelt Entertains Six Hundred Children 

The President's Daily Habits— A Remarkable Memory— Official Duties 
—Diversions— Fond of Long Walks— Plays Tennis Well— And Enjoys 
Wrestling— The President's Secretary— Egg Rolling— At Oyster Bay. 

Mrs. Roosevelt, having such a large family, is so busy 
with her household duties that it is impossible for her to give 
much time to receiving visitors. Necessarily, a lady in her 
position, must devote considerable time to society. This 
proves, however, to be a great tax upon her strength, as well 
as her time. She often receives bodies of women, like the 
D. A. R.'s, the Congress of Mothers, and other women's soci- 
eties that frequently come to Washington. Very often, too, 
she receives ladies who are visiting Washington when they 
form a party and write making an appointment with her. 
She is always glad to do so, whenever it is possible. She 
never refuses a request of this kind if she can possibly avoid 
it. She receives small delegations of visitors in the Blue 
Room, and if the number is not too large, she invites them to 
sip tea with her. When societies visit her, however, she 
receives them in the East Room, because the Blue Room is 
not large enough. 

A CHILDREN'S RECEPTION 

Mrs. Roosevelt gave one of the most delightful receptions 
last winter that has ever been held at the White House. This 

77 



78 DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 

time her guests were the little children between six and four- 
teen years of age. This is one time when Mrs. Roosevelt 
shook hands with every one of the White House visitors. 
Not only that, but often she would take a little tot up and 
speak to it for a moment. This time the children were intro- 
duced to Mrs. Roosevelt, and the President stood at her right. 
Of course he could not stay away from a gathering where 
there were to be so many children. He is in his element when 
the "little ones" are around. 

There were about six hundred children at this reception, 
which was given on the day after Christmas, and lasted from 
2 o'clock until 4:30. There was a musical programme, and 
refreshments in the shape of sweets and ice-cream at the 
close. Both the President and Mrs. Roosevelt pronounced 
this the most enjoyable and happy reception they had ever 
given. 

NO SOCIAL JEALOUSIES 

There were no jealousies at this reception. There were 
no newspaper stories about the army officers being angry 
because the navy officers went ahead of them, or vice versa. 
There was no trouble because the Supreme Court judges and 
their wives felt that they should have taken precedence. 
The President nearly always has some such unpleasant inci- 
dent arise at his receptions. He cannot arrange all the 
details. That is left in other hands, but when some one is 
slighted and makes a noise about it, it of course is embar- 
rassing to the President. 

Mrs. Roosevelt knew that she would have no trouble of 
this kind at the children's reception. She could feel perfectly 
at ease with them. It is when people grow to mature years 
and become selfish that they make trouble. Of course, there 



DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 79 

are certain social forms and usages to be observed. Some- 
times it is proper to insist upon having these customs recog- 
nized in the proper manner. But, generally speaking, we are 
apt to allow our selfishness to crop out after we have passed 
beyond the years of our childhood days. 

AN ACCOMPLISHED LINGUIST 

Mrs. Roosevelt speaks French and Italian very well. Her 
sister. Miss Emily Carow, lives in Italy. Mrs. Roosevelt has 
visited with her in that country, and took occasion to make a 
special study of the two languages most spoken in Italy. The 
President himself speaks German almost as well as he does 
English. 

The President is a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, 
and Mrs. Roosevelt is an Episcopalian. They usually attend 
church together, sometimes going to the Dutch Reformed 
Church, and at other times to the Episcopal service. 

THE PRESIDENT SHAVES HIMSELF 

President Roosevelt retires between eleven and twelve 
o'clock at night. He arises at seven every morning. There 
is a White House barber who sometimes shaves the President. 
Usually, however, the President shaves himself. As his own 
barber, he is something of an expert. He has been in the far 
West so much, living as a ranchman and a hunter, that it has 
been impossible for him to have the services of a barber at all 
times. He became so accustomed to shaving himself that he 
prefers to do so now, from force of habit. Notwithstanding 
this, a barber is employed at the White House constantly. In 
addition to serving as a tonsorial artist for the President and 
his boys, whenever needed, he acts as a messenger. 

The President sits down to breakfast at 8:30, and by 9:15 



8o DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 

he is usually in his office, and immediately takes up the morn- 
ing mail with Secretary Loeb. The first thing he does is to 
append his name to the documents awaiting his signature. 
After that begins the receiving of visitors with whom appoint- 
ments have been made. About twelve o'clock he shakes 
hands with the general public, and the White House office 
and grounds are often crowded with people waiting for the 
opportunity to simply glance at the President as they pass 
along at the entrance to his office, when he extends to each 

his hand. 

SELDOM FORGETS A NAME 

Sometimes when there is a limping old soldier, with a 
G. A. R. badge, the President holds his hand and says a few 
words to him. He may ask what his regiment was, and other- 
wise take a deep interest in him. President Roosevelt has a 
remarkable memory, and seldom forgets a name when he 
once hears it. It is thought that he is fully as remarkable in 
this respect as was President McKinley. 

OFFICIAL AND SOCIAL DUTIES 

At 1:30 in the afternoon the President goes to luncheon 
with the family. Often visitors of distinction are invited to 
lunch with him. Here he has an opportunity to discuss at 
length important matters he may have in hand with leading 
men. Visitors to luncheon are always introduced to the mem- 
bers of the President's family, and while they are at the table 
the conversation becomes general. 

By 2:30 the President is usually back in the office. At that 
hour appointments have been made for receiving calls from 
the foreign ambassadors and ministers. Those with creden- 
tials as newly accredited representatives to this government, or 
those v.'ho are about to take formal leave, and return to their 




From Stereograph, copjTigbt by I'ndprwootl & Underwood. N. Y, 

READY FOR A RIDE 

The above photograph was tasen at Oyster Bay. The President makes a splendid figure or 

horseback and bandies hiniseli'so weii in the saddle that every trooper ,n the 

United States cavairy swears by him. 




- lu'rapli. copyright by T^derwood & Underwood, N. T. 

THE PRESIDENT'S FAVORITE EXERCISE 



DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 8i 

home government, call. Other distinguished foreigners are 
also received at this time. These are always received in the 
Blue Room at the White House residence. 

After these official duties are dispensed with, the President 
greets large bodies of visitors who are in Washington. The 
most notable instances during the year IQ04 were the recep- 
tions given the Knights of Columbus, the United German 
Societies, the D. A. R.'s, the Colonial Dames; and the G. A. 
R.'s during their encampment in the fall of 1902. By three 
o'clock the President is back in the office again, and takes up 
with his secretary the mail that has accumulated during the 
day. He signs various state papers, all army and navy com- 
missions, the commissions of every postmaster in the land, 
commissions of treasury officials, consular and diplomatic offi- 
cers, all department of justice appointments, such as United 
States judges and United States attorneys, marshals, etc., all 
pardons, all proclamations affecting the opening of govern- 
ment lands, forest reserves, etc., as well as all Indian leases. 
All bills and resolutions of Congress are also signed by the 
President. 

FOND OF HORSEBACK RIDING 

He usually works until 6 p. m., but when he can get away 
he mounts his horse and is away for a gallop through the out- 
lying country around Washington, or over across the hills of 
Virginia. Often he is accompanied by Mrs. Roosevelt, or 
some of the children. They are all fond of horseback riding. 
The two eldest boys and Ethel, when they are at home from 
school, nearly always accompany their father on these horse- 
back journeys for health and diversion. Occasionally, Miss 
Alice accompanies her father on these horseback jaunts. Miss 
Alice is also something of an expert as a horseback rider. 



82 DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 

Sometimes the President takes a long walk, accompanied 
by one or more friends. He has a tennis court, and is very 
fond of that sport. He enjoys single-stick practice or wres- 
tling. During the winter he employs a professional wrestler, 
and the two struggle long and desperately for supremacy in 
this violent physical exercise. Of course the President 
employs the professional to give him lessons for the healthful 
benefit he derives from the exercise. During the winter and 
spring of 1904 he employed an expert Japanese wrestler. 

The President dines at 8 p. m. This is the one meal he 
eats leisurely, for he takes a full hour at the dinner table. 
The Roosevelts are liberal entertainers, and always have a 
number of guests at the White House. 

AN INVETERATE REABER 

After dinner the President spends the evening reading, or 
entertaining friends. He is a great reader, and has so trained 
himself that he can read with profit. He reads books and 
magazines after he has informed himself through the daily 
newspapers of the current events. After he has spent an hour 
or two in general reading, he spends the balance of the time 
before retiring in dictating important state papers in the quiet 
of his library. It is here that he writes his messages and other 
papers incident to this highest official position in the world. 

BUSINESS ORGANIZATION OF THE WHITE HOUSE 

The White House is run on a systematic and businesslike 
basis. At the head of the business organization is Mr. Wil- 
liam Loeb, Jr., the President's secretary. Mr. Loeb became 
secretary to President Roosevelt on January i, 1899, when Mr. 
Roosevelt's term as Governor of New York State began. 
After Mr. Roosevelt was elected to the \'ice-Presidency, Mr. 



DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 83 

Loeb came to Washington as his private secretary. /\ftcr the 
death of President McKinley, Hon. George B. Cortelyou, who 
was President IMcKinley's private secretary, continued for a 
time as private secretary to President Roosevelt. Upon the 
appointment of Mr. Cortelyou as Secretary of the Department 
of Commerce and Labor, in which office he began to serve in 
the early spring of 1903, Mr. Loeb was advanced to the first 
secretaryship. Mr. Loeb had been assistant secretary to 
President Roosevelt under Mr. Cortelyou. When Mr. Cortel- 
you was advanced to the new cabinet position named above, 
Mr. Loeb naturally became his successor as the secretary to 
the President. Benjamin F. Barnes, who had been one of the 
assistant secretaries, then became assistant secretary to the 
President under Mr. Loeb. 

GENERALLY ACCOMPANIED BY SECRETARY LOEB 

Wherever the President goes, as a rule, his secretary, Mr. 
Loeb, accompanies him. When the President moves to 
Oyster Bay for his summer vacation, Mr. Loeb and Mr. 
Barnes, as well as a number of the White House force of 
clerks, accompany him. At Oyster Bay village they have an 
office where the secretaries and clerks make their headquar- 
ters for conducting the President's official business. Sagamore 
Hill, the President's summer home, is about a two-mile drive 
from the village. A telephone connects the office and the 
residence. Large numbers of visitors go to Oyster Bay during 
the vacation to see the President. Some of the visitors have 
arranged by appointment, before starting for Oyster Bay, to 
see the President. Those who have appointments, as well as 
cabinet officers, drive from the railway station to the office, 
when their names are telephoned to the residence. The 
President's secretary knows whether the individual seeking to 



84 DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 

see the President has an appointment with him or not. If the 
individual has an appointment, his arrival is announced by 
telephone. The secret service men, who are stationed at 
the entrance to the residence, are always informed when 
callers have an engagement and are entitled to approach 
the residence. 

Those who go to Oyster Bay expecting to see the Presi- 
dent without an engagement may be detained there for some 
time, or meet with disappointment. The President goes to 
his country home for recreation and rest. He sees everybody, 
however, when he possibly can. It is assumed that people will 
be considerate of the President's well-being, and not annoy 
him by frequent visits, unless they have very important busi- 
ness. It should be considered that this is the only opportunity 
the President has for rest. 

NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY 

The President of the United States is the only citizen of 
the Republic who is prohibited from leaving our shores and 
visiting a foreign land, while he is President. There is not a 
free American citizen in this country who is not privileged to 
leave this country at any time he chooses, except the Presi- 
dent of the United States. 

EASTER EGG ROLLING 

The Easter egg rolling on the White House grounds on 
the Monday following each Easter Sunday is a unique affair. 
The custom of inviting the children of Washington to the 
White House grounds once a year originated many years ago, 
and no president and his wife have given serious consideration 
to putting a stop to the custom. President and Mrs. Roose- 
velt take a special delight in this annual festival for the small 



DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 85 

children of Washington. The event is somewhat under the 
patronage of the President and his wife, and nothing is more 
pleasing to the thousands of children who visit the grounds 
than to have the President and his wife appear on the back 
portico of the executive mansion to view and greet the assem- 
blage. It is always by order of the President, too, that the 
marine band, the greatest musical organization in the army 
and navy of the United States, goes to the White House 
grounds and plays for the delectation of the youngsters who 
are assembled. 

All of the grounds south of the White House enclosed with 
an iron fence are open to the children of the city for the egg 
rolling festivities. The children begin to assemble early in 
the morning, taking with them baskets of varied colored eggs; 
by tliree o'clock in the afternoon the immense, beautiful 
grounds are alive with children varying in size from the three- 
year-old tot up to eighteen years, all of them engaged in roll- 
ing and tossing eggs. The game is to determine whose eggs 
are the strongest and will withstand the most rolling and 
tossing. The children whose eggs have the weakest shells 
come out losers, of course. The game itself, however, is 
unimportant outside of the plays and romping and other games 
indulged in. 

FINDING AND RESTORING LOST CHILDREN 

Small children are accompanied bj- their mothers or nurses, 
and the crowd becomes so great at times that the little ones 
get separated from the older persons with them, and the 
Washington police have a busy job finding and restoring the 
lost juveniles. Sometimes the police find as many as twenty 
little ones separated from their mothers and nurses, who are 
wailing bitterly over their predicament, but it does not take 



85 DAILY LIFE AT THE WHITE HOUSE 

the police long to restore them to those from whom they have 
become separated. The greatest annoyance the police have 
to contend with on these occasions are the little ragamuffins, 
alley urchins of Washington, known as "egg snatchers"; 
sometimes thirty or forty of them will organize especially for 
egg rolling, and they will snatch eggs from the children and 
disappear with hundreds of dozens of eggs. During the day 
following an Easter egg rolling not many years ago the Emer- 
gency Hospital treated twenty boys suffering from extreme 
cramps and colic caused from overeating hard-boiled eggs. 
Not only do the little egg snatchers, mostly colored boys from 
the slums of the city, consume many eggs themselves, but they 
carry hundreds home to their families. As far as possible the 
police keep these bad boys out of the White House grounds, 
but enough of them manage to get in and will snatch eggs 
from the unsuspecting children and pass them through to 
their companions on the outside of the fence. 

AN EXPENSE TO THE GOVERNMENT 

The government is put to considerable cost each year in 
restoring the grounds to a presentable condition after one of 
these festivals; the grounds are literally filled with broken 
egg shells, pieces of paper and scraps of all kinds, necessitating 
the employment of a large force of men to clean up the 
grounds and again put them in proper condition. 



CHAPTER VI 

LIFE IN THE WEST 

Exciting Adventures — A Mistaken Ruffian — A Western Episode — The 
Pleasures of the Chase — Shoots His First Buffalo — Kills Two Deer at 
Four Hundred Yards — An Exciting Elk Hunt — Hunting Dangerous 
Game — Stands Off a Band of Indians — Tribute to the Rough Riders. 

Mr. Roosevelt has told the story of his Western life in sev- 
eral exceedingly interesting volumes. Although full of excit- 
ing adventures and thrilling experiences, these captivating 
tales are modest to a fault. He seems to take as much delight 
in telling of the shots he missed as of those which reached the 
mark. He never boasts, and while he must have participated 
in many adventures on the frontier, those which might sug- 
gest any display of heroism on his part are either omitted or 
else lightly touched upon. 

Although Mr. Roosevelt was undoubtedly looked upon as 
more or less of a "tenderfoot" by the indigenous Westerner 
with whom he was thrown into daily contact, he asserts that 
he was always treated with the utmost courtesy, whether on 
the roundup or in camp, and the few real desperadoes he met 
were scrupulously polite. To use his own words: 

MR. ROOSEVELT MAKES GOOD 

"I never was shot at maliciously but once. This was on an 
occasion when I had to pass the night in a little frontier hotel 
where the bar-room occupied the whole floor, and was, in 
consequence, the place where every one, drunk or sober, had 
to sit. My assailant was neither a cowboy nor a bona fide 'bad 

87 



88 LIFE IN THE WEST 

man,' but a broad-hatted ruffian of cheap and commonplace 
type, who had for the moment terrorized the other men in the 
bar-room, these being mostly sheep herders and small grangers. 
The fact that I wore glasses, together with my evident desire 
to avoid a fight, apparently gave him the impression— a mis- 
taken one— that I would not resent an injury." 

"Beware of entrance in a quarrel; but being in, bear thyself 
that the opposer may beware of thee," is the precept laid 
down by Shakespeare. How Mr. Roosevelt bore himself on 
this occasion he leaves to the imagination, but an eye-wit- 
ness to the encounter states that after a short but decisive 
tussle he took the "bad man's" gun away from him and then 
proceeded to give him a practical illustration of the "strenuous 
life," by kicking him unceremoniously from the room. To say 
that this act made him popular with the cowboys would be 
putting it mildly. To use a familiar Western expression, Mr. 
Roosevelt "made good." 

HE DANCED DOWN THE MIDDLE 

The following incident will serve to explain in a measure 
his popularity with his companions of the plains. In one of 
his books he tells of a deadly affray that took place in a town 
not very far distant from his ranch. It seems that a Scotch- 
man and a Minnesota man had become involved in a dispute. 
Both were desperadoes, and after a bitter quarrel the former, 
mounted on his broncho, rode to the door of his enemy's 
house, "looking for trouble," but before he could open fire was 
promptly shot down by the American. Mr. Roosevelt, in 
relating the occurrence, described how, a few days later, he 
opened a cowboy's ball, with the wife of the victor of his 
contest, he himself dancing opposite the husband. "It was the 



LIFE IN THE WEST 89 

lanciers," says the narrator, "and he knew all the steps far 
better than I did. He could have danced a minuet very well 
with a little practice. The scene reminded one of the ball 
where Bret Harte's heroine danced down the middle with the 
man who shot Sandy Magee." 

THE DELIGHTS OF THE CHASE 

Mr. Roosevelt devoted much of his time to hunting among 
the mountains and on the plains, both as' a pastime and to 
procure hides, meat, and robes for use on the ranch; and it 
was his good luck to kill all the various kinds of large game 
that can properly be considered as belonging to temperate 
North America. What a stirring description of the delights 
of the chase, which he calls the best of all national pastimes, 
is to be found in the following, taken from his book, "The 
Wilderness Hunter": 

"No one but he who has partaken thereof can understand 
the keen delight of hunting in lonely lands. For his is the joy 
of the horse well ridden and the rifle well held; for him the 
long days of toil and hardship, resolutely endured, and 
crowned at the end with triumph. In after years prairies 
shimmering in the bright sun; of vast snow-clad wastes lying 
desolate under gray skies; of the melancholy marshes; of the 
rush of mighty rivers; of the breath of ice-armored pines at 
the touch of the winds of winter; of cataracts roaring between 
hoary mountain masses; of all the innumerable sights and 
sounds of the wilderness; of its immensity and mystery; and 
of the silences that brood in its still depths." 

A BUFFALO HUKT 

On one of his first hunting trips, some twenty years ago, 
Mr. Roosevelt decided to go on a buffalo hunt. Leaving 



90 LIFE IN THE WEST 

camp early in the morning, he set out with one companion 
across a tract of the Bad Lands, and late in the afternoon 
came across three male buffalo. After picketing their ponies, 
the two men began to creep on hands and knees toward the 
animals, and at length succeeded in getting within shooting 
distance. This was the first time Mr. Roosevelt had ever shot 
at a buffalo and, deceived by the size and shape of the ani- 
mal, he made the mistake of aiming too far back, with the 
result that, although he hit the beast, he only succeeded in 
wounding him, and to his chagrin the three animals disap- 
peared in a cloud of dust. Mounting their horses, they dashed 
after the fleeing buffalo, and for several miles rode at a rapid 
gait and soon had the satisfaction of seeing the three stop and 
begin to graze. As the two men galloped toward them they 
again dashed away. The ponies they had been riding were 
completely jaded, but they finally succeeded in getting within 
a few yards of the wounded buffalo. Meanwhile the moon 
had risen, and, what with the uncertain light and the rough 
ground over which they were riding, it was almost impossible 
to get a good shot. Nevertheless, the future President of the 
United States fired, and, to his disappointment, missed. He 
not only missed, but, to his surprise, the infuriated animal, 
with a loud bellow, charged him with lowered horns. His 
pony bolted and the rifle was knocked against his forehead, 
cutting a terrible gash. The buffalo then turned his attention 
to Mr. Roosevelt's companion, who made off on his tired 
horse, shooting at the pursuing animal as he went. None of 
the shots produced any effect, however, and, wearying of the 
sport, the buffalo disappeared in the darkness and they saw 
him no more. 

Several days later he was more successful. Shortly after 



LIFE IN THE WEST 



91 



noon, as the two hunters were entering a ravine, their ponies 
suddenly threw up their heads and sniffed the air. 

KILLS A BISON 

"FeeHng sure that they had smelt some wild beast," says the 
hero of the adventure, "I slipped off my pony and ran quickly, 
but cautiously, up along the valley. Before I had gone a hundred 
yards I noticed in the soft soil, at the bottom, the round prints 
of a bison's hoofs; and immediately afterwards got a glimpse 
of the animal himself, as he fed slowly up the course of the 
ravine, some distance ahead of me. The wind was just right, 
and no ground could have been better, for stalking. Hardly 
needing to bend down, I walked up behind a small sharp- 
crested hillock, and peeping over, there below me, not fifty 
yards off, was a great bison bull. He was walking along, 
grazing as he walked. His glossy fall coat was in fine trim, 
and shone in the rays of the sun; while his pride of bearing 
showed him to be in the lusty vigor of his prime. As I rose 
above the crest of the hill, he held up his heatl and cocked his 
tail in the air. Before he could go off I put the bullet in 
behind his shoulder. The wound was an almost immediately 
fatal one, yet with surprising agility for so large and heavy an 
animal, he bounded up the opposite side of the ravine, 
heedless of two more balls, both of which went into his flank 
and ranged forwards, and disappeared over the ridge at a 
lumbering gallop, the blood pouring from his mouth and 
nostrils. 

"We knew he could not go far, and trotted leisurely along on 
his bloody trail; and in the next gully we found him stark 
dead, lying almost on his back, having pitched over the side 
when he tried to go down it." 



92 LIFE IN THE WEST 

A LONG SHOT 

Upon one occasion, while sitting on his veranda, he heard 
a splashing sound in the river some distance away, and glanc- 
ing in that direction saw three deer, which had emerged from 
the thicket of the trees on the opposite bank, slaking their 
thirst in the stream. Entering the house he picked up his rifle 
and, using the pillar of the porch as a rest, fired at the largest 
of the animals, a magnificent buck. It was a long shot, and 
full}' 250 yards, but he brought down the deer. The best shot 
he ever made and, as he apologetically puts it, just such a shot 
as any one occasionally will make if he takes a good many 
chances and fires often at ranges where the odds are greatly 
against his hitting, was at a black-tailed deer. Coming 
across three of these animals, when about 200 yards distant he 
fired, but missed, the bullet striking low. Holding his rifle 
high he made a second shot, above and ahead of them, which 
only succeeded in turning the deer, which quickly vanished 
behind the shelter of a bluff. Elevating the sight of the gun 
to 400 yards, he waited for them to reappear, and had the 
satisfaction, a few minutes later, of seeing one of them stand- 
ing broadside toward him. As he was about to fire, another 
deer appeared, and, thinking it would be a good plan to have 
as large a mark as possible to shoot at, he waited and when 
the second animal came to a stop abreast of the first, he aimed 
carefully and fired. The next instant, to his surprise, he 
observed the two deer struggling upon the ground, and, 
hurrying to the spot, discqvered that the bullet had bro- 
ken their backs. Measuring the distance from where the 
animals lay to the point where he had stood when firing the 
shot, to his wonder and delight he found that it was over 400 
yards. 



LIFE IN THE WEST 93 

AN EXCITING ELK HUNT 

In 1S91, Mr. Roosevelt made an elk hunt in northwestern 
Wyoming among the Shoshone Mountains, and his description 
of the trip makes the reader tingle with excitement as he fol- 
lows every step of the chase from the moment the call of the 
bull elk echoes through the woodland until the proud giant of 
the forest falls beneath the unerring shot of the hunter. 

"It was very exciting," says Mr. Roosevelt in telling of one 
adventure, "as we crept toward the great bull, and the chal- 
lenge sounded nearer and nearer. While we were still at 
some distance the pealing notes were like those of a bugle, 
delivered in two bars, first rising, then abruptly falling; as we 
drew nearer they took on a harsh, squealing sound. Each 
call made our veins thrill; it sounded like the cry of some 
huge beast of prey. At last we heard the roar of the chal- 
lenge not eighty yards off. Stealing forward three or four 
yards, I saw the tips of the horns through a mass of dead tim- 
ber and young growth, and I slipped to one side to get a clean 
shot. Seeing us, but not making out what we were, and full 
of fierce and insolent excitement, the wapiti bull stepped 
boldly toward us with a stately swinging gait. Then he stood 
motionless, facing us, barely fifty yards away, his handsome 
twelve-tined antlers tossed aloft; as he held his head with the 
lordly grace of his kind, I fired into his chest, and as he turned 
I raced forward and shot him in the flank; but the second bul- 
let was not needed, for the first wound was mortal, and he 
fell before going fifty yards. 

"The dead elk lay among the young evergreens. The 
huge, shapely body was set on legs that were as strong as 
steel rods, and yet slender, clean, and smooth; they were in 
color a beautiful dark brown, contrasting well with the yellow- 



94 LIFE IN THE WEST 

ish hue of the body. The neck and throat were garnished with 
a mane of long hair; the symmetry of the great horns set off 
the fine, delicate lines of the noble head." 

EASY TO SHOOT STRAIGHT IF YOU ARE CLOSE 

Speaking of shooting tlangerous game, Mr. Roosevelt 
believes that steadiness is more needed than good shooting; 
that no game is dangerous unless a man is close up, and if a 
man is close it is easy enough for him to shoot straight, if he 
does not lose his head. In recounting several exciting epi- 
sodes in connection with the hunting of grizzlies, he utters this 
characteristic maxim: "A bear's brain is about the size of a 
pint bottle, and any one can hit a pint bottle offhand at thirty 
or forty feet. I have had two shots at bears at close quarters, 
and each time I fired into the brain, the bullet going in 
between the eye and ear. A novice at this kind of sport will 
find it best and safest to keep in mind the old Norse viking's 
advice in reference to a long sword: 'If you go in close enough 
your sword will be long enough.' If a poor shot goes in close 
enough you will find that he shoots straight enough." Once 
he came into contact v/ith far more dangerous game than griz- 
zlies — Indians — and it was his steadiness that brought him out 
of the encounter unscathed — but we will let him tell the story 
himself. 

"One morning I had been traveling along the edge of the 
prairie, and about noon I rode Manitou up a slight rise and 
came out on a plateau that was perhaps half a mile broad. 
When near the middle, four or five Indians suddenly came up 
over the edge, directly in front of me. 

AN INDIAN CHARGE 

"The second they saw me they whipped their guns out of 
their slings, started their horses into a run, and came on at full 



LIFE IN THE WEST 95 

tilt, whooping and brandishing their weapons. I instantly 
reined up and dismounted. The level plain where we were 
was of all places the one on which such an onslaught could 
best be met. In any broken country, or where there is much 
cover, a white man is at a great disadvantage if pitted against 
such adepts in the art of hiding as Indians; while, on the other 
hand, the latter will rarely rush in on a foe who, even if over- 
powered in the end, will probably inflict severe loss on his 
assailants. The fury of an Indian charge, and the whoops by 
which it is accompanied, often scare horses so as to stampede 
them; but in Manitou I had perfect trust, and the old fellow 
stood as steady as a rock, merely cocking his ears and looking 
round at the noise. I waited until the Indians were a hundred 
yards off, and then threw up my rifle and drew a bead on the 
foremost. The effect was like magic. 

SCATTERED LIKE DUCKS 

"The whole party scattered out as wild pigeons or teal 
ducks sometimes do when shot at, and doubled back on their 
tracks, the men bending over alongside their horses. When 
some distance off they halted and gathered together to con- 
sult, and after a minute one came forward alone, ostentatiously 
dropping his rifle and waving a blanket over his head. When 
he came to within fifty yards I stopped him, and he pulled out 
a piece of paper — all Indians, when absent from their reserva- 
tions, are supposed to carry passes — and called out, 'How! 
Me good Indian.' I answered, 'How,' and assured him most 
sincerely I was very glad he was a good Indian, but I would 
not let him come closer; and when his companions began to 
draw near, I covered him with the rifle and made him move 
off, which he did with a sudden lapse into the most canonical 
Anglo-Saxon profanity. I then started to lead my horse out 



96 LIFE IN THE WEST 

to the prairie; and after hovering round a short time they 
rode off, while I followed suit, but in the opposite direction. 
It had all passed too quickly for me to have time to get fright- 
ened; but during the rest of my ride I was exceedingly uneasy, 
and pushed tough, speedy old Manitou along at a rapid rate, 
keeping well out on the level. However, I never saw the 
Indians again. They may not have intended any mischief 
beyond giving me a fright; but I did not dare to let them 
come to close quarters, for they would have probably taken 
my horse and rifle, and not impossibly my scalp as well." 

THE ROUGH RIDER 

But there is something more interesting in Mr. Roosevelt's 
books than his wonderful stories of the chase. From them 
the reader will obtain a correct idea of the West as it was 
twenty years ago and as it is to-day. In his work entitled 
"Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail," from which the fore- 
going extract is taken, one is brought face to face with the 
Western cattle country — the excitement and danger of "riding 
herd," the mysteries of the round-up, the terrors of "broncho 
busting," and all the interesting details that go to make up the 
life of a cowboy or ranchman. In one of the most interesting 
chapters in the book, Mr. Roosevelt pays the following tribute 
to the wild rough rider of the plains: "Brave, hospitable, 
hardy and adventurous, he is the grim pioneer of our land; he 
prepares the way for the civilization from before whose face 
he must himself disappear. Hard and dangerous though his 
existence, it has yet a wild attraction which plainly draws to it 
his bold, free spirit." 



CHAPTER VII 

ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 

Appointed a Member of the Civil Service Commission — Views on the Sub- 
ject — The Merit System— The Fair Play Department — Head of the 
New York Police — Civic Corruption — Blackmail — An Unequal Battle 
— His Life Threatened — Becomes Assistant Secretary of the Navy — 
Military Preparedness. 

After Mr. Roosevelt was defeated for the mayoralty of 
New York in i8S6, he spent three years on his ranch in the 
West, and when he was not following the excitement of chase 
or attending to his calling as a ranchman, as told in the pre- 
vious chapter, he was hard at work on some book or magazine 
article. It was these contributions to the literature of the day 
that brought his name before the American people. 

In 1889, he was appointed a member of the Civil Service 
Commission, by President Harrison. Mr. Roosevelt threw 
himself into his work with his accustomed vigor and force, 
and if any one doubts his position on the question of civil 
service, let him read his essay on that subject, from which the 
following is an extract: 

AN IMPORTANT QUESTION 

"No question of internal administration is so important to 

the United States as the question of civil service reform, 

because the spoils system, which can be supplanted only 

through the agencies which have found expression in the act 

creating the Civil Service Commission, has been for seventy 

years the most potent of all the forces tending to bring about 

97 



98 ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 

the degradation of our politics. No republic can properly 
endure when its politics are corrupt and base; and the spoils 
system, the application in political life of the degrading doc- 
trine that to the victor belong the spoils, produces corruption 
and degradation. The man who is in politics for the offices 
might just as well be in politics for the money he can get for 
his vote, so far as the general good is concerned. Civil serv- 
ice reform is not merely a movement to better the popular 
service. It achieves this end, too; but its main purpose is to 
raise the tone of public life, and it is in this direction that its 
effects have been of incalculable good to the whole commu- 
nity. 

AN ADVOCATE OF THE MERIT SYSTEM 

Mr. Roosevelt was an enthusiastic advocate of the merit 
system, and his antagonism to political grafters brought down 
a storm of denunciation upon his head. He absolutely 
declined to have anything to do with rings, and during his six 
years' term of service he and his associates never deviated 
from the plan laid out in the beginning. "Our aim," said Mr. 
Roosevelt at the time, "was always to procure the extension 
of the classified service as rapidly as possible and see that the 
law was administered thoroughly and fairly." 

HAD MANY OPPONENTS 

There were many Republican and Democratic politicians 
who were strongly antagonistic to the civil service act, and 
there were many members of Congress of both parties who 
opposed the commissioners at every step; but Mr. Roosevelt 
was undaunted, and whenever the law was evaded, the com- 
mission at once made an example of the case. 

"The widest publicity was given to wrong-doing," says Mr. 
Roosevelt. "Often, even where we were unable to win the 



ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 99 

actual fight in which we were engaged, the effect of our hav- 
ing made it and the further fact that we were ready to repeat 
it on provocation, has put a complete stop to the repetition of 
the offense. In the aggregate it is doubtful if one per cent 
of all the employees have been dismissed for political reasons. 
In other words, where, under the spoils system, a hundred men 
would have been turned out, under the civil service law, as 
administered under our supervision, ninety-nine men were 
kept in." 

When President Cleveland in 1893 succeeded President 
Harrison, the former invited Mr. Roosevelt to remain in 
office, and for two years longer he devoted his time to proving 
the practical utility of civil service and the baneful effect of 
the spoils system. 

THE FAIR PLAY DEPARTMENT 

Mr. Riis, in his biography of President Roosevelt, devotes 
a chapter to his record on the Civil Service Commission which 
he calls "The Fair Play Department," in the course of which 
he says: 

"I suppose there is scarcely one who knows anything of 
Theodore Roosevelt who has not got the fact of his being 
once a civil service commissioner fixed in his mind. That was 
where the country got its eye upon him; and that, likewise, 
was where some good people grew the notion that he was a 
scrapper first, last, and all the time, with but little regard for 
whom he tackled, so long as he had him. There was some 
truth in that; we shall see how much. But as to civil service 
reform, I have sometimes wondered how many there were 
who knew as little what it really meant as I did until not so 
very long ago. How many went about with a more or less 
vague notion that it was some kind of a club to knock out 

L.of 0. 



100 ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 

spoils politics with; good for the purpose and necessary, but 
in the last analysis an alien kind of growth, of aristocratic 
tendency, to set men apart in classes! Instead of exactly the 
reverse, right down on the hard-pan of the real and only 
democracy; every man on his merits; what he is, not what he 
has; what he can do, not what his pull can do for him." 

APPOINTED POLICE COMMISSIONER OF NEW YORK 

On May 5, 1895, Mr. Roosevelt resigned as civil service 
commissioner and was appointed police commissioner of 
New York City about a fortnight later. 

In the fall of 1894 a combination between Republicans and 
Anti-Tammany Democrats, with the aid of so-called independ- 
ents, had resulted in the overthrow of Tammany Hall. For 
some time public feeling had been very bitter against the city 
administration, owing to the corruption which permeated every 
department of the municipal government. 

"The chief center of corruption was the police depart- 
ment," says Mr. Roosevelt. "No man not intimately acquainted 
with the lower and the humbler side of New York life — for 
there is a wide distinction between the two — can realize how 
far the corruption extended. Except in rare instances, where 
prominent politicians made demands which could not be 
refused, both promotion and appointments toward the close 
of Tammany rule were almost solely for money, and the prices 
were discussed with cynical frankness. There was a well 
recognized tariff of charges, ranging from two or three hun- 
dred dollars for appointment as a patrolman to twelve or fif- 
teen thousand dollars for promotion to the position of captain. 
The money was reimbursed to those who paid it by an elabo- 
rate system of blackmail." 

When Mr. Roosevelt accepted the police commissionership, 



ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER loi 

he knew that he had a fight on his hands. In the words of his 
friend and co-laborer, Mr. Riis, it was the "disclosure of the 
slimy depths of the system of police blackmail through the 
labor of Doctor Parkhurst and of the Lexow committee which 
brought about the political revolution out of which came 
reform and Roosevelt. But in Mulberry Street they were 
merely hailed as freaks." 

"YOU ARE BUT HUMAN" 

The system so far had been invincible. It had broken 
many men who had got in its way. "It will break you," was 
the greeting with which Burns, the big chief who had ruled 
Mulberry Street with a hard hand, but had himself bowed to 
the system, received Mr. Roosevelt. "You will yield; you are 
but human." 

The answer of the new President of the Board was to close 
the gate of the politician to police patronage. 

"We want," he said, "the civil service law applied to 
appointments here, not because it is the ideal way, but because 
it is the only way to knock the political spoilsmen out; and 
you have to do that to get anywhere." And the Board made 
the order. 

Next he demanded the resignation of the chief, and for- 
bade the annual parade for which preparations were being 
made. "We will parade when we need not be ashamed to 
show ourselves," and then he grappled with the saloons. 

Mr. Roosevelt has said that in administering the affairs of 
the police force he felt, as might have been expected, that 
there was no need of genius nor need of any very unusual 
qualities. What was needed was exercise of the plain, ordinary 
virtues, of a rather commonplace type, which all good citizens 
should be expected to possess — common sense, common hon- 



102 ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 

est}', courage, energy, resolution, readiness to learn and a 
desire to be as pleasant with everybody as was compatible 
with a strict performing of duty. It was these virtues that 
Mr. Roosevelt took with him into the unequal battle with the 
power of evil in the New York police force. He began by 
familiarizing himself with the details of police organizations 
and methods. He made nightly rounds over the city, either 
alone or accompanied by his friend Mr. Riis, and in this way 
detected many policemen neglecting their duty. 

MULBERRY STREET DEMORALIZED 

When Mr. Roosevelt commenced the dismission of officers 
from the force, and especially those who had flattered them- 
selves that they had a "pull," he was denounced on every 
hand. "Mulberry Street," as the police headquarters in New 
York is called, was demoralized — the bosses panic-stricken. 
Mr. Roosevelt's life was even threatened, and on several occa- 
sions infernal machines were found in his desk; but Mr. 
Roosevelt does not know the meaning of fear, and when he 
has once set his hand to any work there is no turning back. 

Mr. Roosevelt's campaign against the saloonkeepers was of 
short duration, but he achieved his point, and in June, 1895, 
New York had its first dry Sunday. Next he turned his atten- 
tion to another violation of the State law which prohibited the 
selling of liquor to children, and put a stop to that nefarious 
practice. But if Mr. Roosevelt was quick to dismiss corrupt 
and disobedient policemen from the force, he also knew how 
to recognize merit and to reward it accordingly. To again 
quote from Mr. Riis, who tells the story of how the police 
became, from a band of blackmailers' tools, a body of heroes 
in a few months: 



ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 103 

"Effi CUT OUR BONDS" 
"Roosevelt won. He conquered politics and he stopped 
law-breaking; but the biggest victory he won was over the cyni- 
cism of a people so steeped in it all that they did not dream it 
could be done. Tammany came back, but not to stay. And 
though it may come back many times yet for our sins, it will 
be merely like the thief who steals in to fill his pockets from 
the till when the storekeeper is not looking. That was what 
we got out of having Roosevelt on the Police Board. He 
could not set us free. We have got to do that ourselves. 
But he cut our bonds and gave us arms, if we chose to use 
them." 

BECOMES ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF THE NAVY 

In April, 1897, Mr. Roosevelt resigned from the office of 
Police Commissioner, to accept that of Assistant Secretary of 
the Navy, in President McKinley's first administration. In 
this office his great energy and mastery of detail contributed 
very largely to the successful administration of the depart- 
ment and were of immense value in the preparations for the 
war with Spain. Mr. Roosevelt came to his position thor- 
oughly equipped for the work. He had made a study of the 
United States navy and was conversant, not only with the 
records of the officers, but with the nature of the rank and 
file. As a result of his knowledge and investigation the 
Assistant Secretary infused new life into the department, and 
when he resigned to take service in the Rough Riders, every 
ship was ready for service. Said the celebrated author of 
"The Making of an American": 

"His industry was prodigious. He bought ships for the 
invasion of Cuba, and fitted them out. He recruited crews 
and shot away fortunes with the big guns — recklessly shouted 



104 ROOSEVELT THE REFORMER 

the critics. He knew better. His experience as a hunter had 
taught him that the best gun in the world was wasted on a 
man who did not know how to use it. The Spaniards found 
that out later. Roosevelt loaded up with ammunition and 
with coal. When at last the war broke out, Dewey found 
everything he needed at Hongkong where he sought it, and 
was able to sail across to Manila a week before they expected 
him there. And then we got the interest on the gun practice 
that had frightened the economical souls at home." 
SHOT AWAY A MILLION DOLLARS 

When Mr. Roosevelt became Assistant Secretary of the 
Navy, he asked for an appropriation of $500,000 for the pur- 
chase of ammunition; it was granted. Not long afterward he 
asked for $800,000, to be expended in the same way. He was 
asked what he had done with the other appropriation, and 
replied that the money had been spent for ammunition. 
When asked where it was, he replied that it had been used at 
target practice, and when he was asked what he meant to do 
with the ammunition bought with the $800,000 asked for, he 
said that it would be shot away also. He had his way. 

While the army was in a state of unprcparedness, the navy 
was ready for war, and when Commodore Dewey was notified 
of the possibility of hostilities between Spain and America, 
he was in readiness to carry out the terms of the memorable 
telegram that ordered him to proceed to Manila and destroy 
the Spanish fleet. Thanks to the energy of the Assistant 
Secretary of the Navy, his ships' bunkers were full of coal, he 
had plenty of ammunition, his crews were drilled in every 
detail and his officers represented the cream of the service. 



CHAPTER VIII 
THE ROUGH RIDERS 

Organizing the Regiment— A Composite Lot— College Athletes and Cow- 
boys—The Officers— Orders to March-The Landing at Daiquiri— The 
First Skirmish— Death of Sergeant Fish and Captain Capron -The La 
Quassina Fight— The Baptism of Fire— San Juan Hill— The Surrender 
of Santiago— The Celebrated "Round Robin." 

When the news of Dewey's victory reached this country, 
Mr. Roosevelt resigned his position as Assistant Secretary of 
the Navy. "There is nothing more for me to do here," he 
said, "I've got to get into the fight myself." And again to a 
friend of his, "I have been a jingo all my lite, now I am going 
to take my own medicine." He first endeavored to get a staff 
appointment, but finally, when there began to be talk of a 
regiment of "rough riders," he felt that his opportunity had 
come. 

ROOSEVELT IS OFFERED THE COMMAND 

While Assistant Secretary of the Navy he had met Dr. 
Leonard Wood, and a friendship had at once sprung up 
between them. Dr. Wood had previously served in General 
Miles' campaign against the Apaches, where he had won a 
medal of honor for remarkable bravery. When the war 
broke out, they discovered a mutual desire to go to the front, 
and when Congress authorized the raising of three Western 
cavalry regiments, both expressed a desire to serve in the 
same command. Secretary Alger offered Roosevelt the com- 
mand of one of these regiments, but he replied that while he 



105 



io6 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

believed he could learn to command a regiment in a month, 
that this was just the very month that he could not afford to 
spare and that, therefore, he would be quite content to go as 
lieutenant-colonel if he would make his friend. Wood, colonel. 
"This was satisfactory to both the President and Secretary 
of War," said Mr. Roosevelt, "and accordingly Wood and I 
were speedily commissioned as colonel and lieutenant-colonel 
of the First United States Volunteer Cavalry. This was the 
official title of the regiment, but for some reason or other, the 
public promptly christened us the 'Rough Riders.' At first we 
fought against the use of the term, but to no purpose, and 
when finally the generals of division and brigade began to 
write in formal communications about our regiment as the 
'Rough Riders,' we adopted the term ourselves." 

DELUGED WITH APPLICATIONS 

The mustering places for the regiment were" mainly New 
Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma and Indian Territory, and the 
main difficulty encountered was not in selecting, but in reject- 
ing men. From every section of the United States applica- 
tions began to pour in, and when, finally, the roster was 
complete, as Mr. Riis has expressed it, "the Rough Riders 
were the most composite lot ever gathered under a regimental 
standard, but they were at the same time singularly typical of 
the spirit that conquered a continent in three generations, 
eminently American. Probably such another will never be 
gotten together again; in no other country on earth could it 
have been mustered to-day. The cowboy, the Indian trailer, 
the Indian himself, the packer, and the hunter who had 
sought and killed the grizzly in his mountain fastness, touched 
elbows with the New York policeman who, for love of adven- 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 107 

ture, had followed his once chief to the war, with the college 
athlete, the football player and the oarsman, the dare-devil 
mountaineer of Georgia, fresh from hunting moonshiners as 
a revenue officer, and with the society man, the child of 
luxury and wealth from the East, bent upon proving that a 
life of ease had dulled neither his manhood nor his sense of 
our common citizenship." 

INVARIABLY DECLINED COMMISSIONS 

Harvard being Mr. Roosevelt's own college, he naturally 
received a great many applications from that institution, but 
what particularly' pleased him was that not only the applicants 
from his Alma Mater, but also the Yale and Princeton men, 
invariably declined commissions. And so it came to pass that 
Dudley Dean, the celebrated quarterback; Wrenn and 
Larned, the champion tennis players; Waller, the high 
jumper; Garrison, Girard, Devereaux and Channing, the 
football players; Wadsworth, the steeple-chase rider; Joe 
Stevens, the polo player; Hamilton Fish, ex-captain of the 
Columbia crew, and others, all entered the Rough Riders and 
accepted the hard work and rough fare as though they had 
been accustomed to nothing else. There were recruits from 
clubs like the Somerset of Boston and the Knickerbocker of 
New York, and, as Mr. Roosevelt expressed it, it seemed as 
though every friend that he had in every State had some one 
acquaintance who was bound to go with the Rough Riders 
and for whom he had to make a place. 

NOT A MAN BACKED OUT 

'Before allowing them to be sworn in," says Mr. Roosevelt, 
"I gathered them together and explained that if they went in 
they must be prepared not merely to fight, but to perform 



108 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

the weary, monotonous labor incident to the ordinary routine 
of the soldier's life; that they must be ready to face fever 
exactly as they were to face bullets; that they were to obey 
unquestioningly, and to do their duty as readily if called upon 
to garrison a fort as if sent to the front. I warned them that 
work that was merely irksome and disagreeable must be faced 
as readily as work that was dangerous, and that no complaint 
of any kind must be made; and I told them that they were 
entirely at liberty not to go, but that after they had once 
signed there could then be no backing out. Not a man of 
them backed out; not one of them failed to do his whole 
duty." 

But these men formed but a small portion of the regiment, 
the bulk of which came from the Territories. Magnificent 
specimens of humanity, inured to hardship, unerring shots, 
ideal horsemen, accustomed to outdoor life, the freedom of 
the frontier and the rude discipline of the ranch or mining 
camp; they were difficult men to handle, save by leaders who 
had demonstrated their ability in that direction. 
HOW THE REGIMENT WAS OFFICERED 

Thus it was that the officers of the regiment were men who 
had either fought against the Indians, or had taken the field 
against the more desperate white outlaws of the plains. The 
captain of Troop A was Bucky O'Neill, the mayor of Prescott, 
Arizona; then there was Captain Llewellyn of New Mexico, 
one of the most celebrated peace officers of the country; 
Lieutenant Ballard, who broke up the notorious Black Jack 
gang; Captain Curry, a New Mexican sheriff, and a sprinkling 
of men who had been sheriffs, marshals, deputy sheriffs and 
deputy marshals. Three of the higher officers in the regi- 
ment had served in the regular army. One was Major 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 109 

Alexander Brodie, from Arizona, who afterwards became 
Lieutenant-Colonel; Captain, afterwards Major, Jenkins, and 
the gallant Captain Allyn Capron, whom Mr. Roosevelt consid- 
ered the best soldier in the regiment. But whether Easterner, 
Westerner, Northerner, or Southerner, officer or man, cowboy 
or college graduate, each "possessed in common the trait of 
hardihood and the thirst for adventure — they were to a man 
born adventurers in every sense of the word." 

To Wood and Roosevelt fell the task of teaching these 
men the duties of a soldier and of molding them together into a 
uniform body of disciplined fighters, and it was owing to their 
patience and industry that when the time came for the regi- 
ment to sail for Cuba these raw recruits had mastered all the 
intricacies of foot and mounted drill and bore every appear- 
ance of regular troops. 

On Sunday, May 29th, the regiment broke camp at San 
Antonio, which had been the recruiting station, and took the 
cars for Tampa. With the first three sections went Colonel 
Wood, Colonel Roosevelt following with the remaining four; 
and several days later they arrived at Tampa. Here for 
several days the regiment worked with great perseverance in 
perfecting itself in skirmish and mounted drill. On the even- 
ing of June /th orders were received that the expedition was 
to start from Fort Tampa, nine miles distant, at daybreak the 
following morning, and if the men were not on board their 
transports by that time they would not be allowed to go. It 
was not, however, until five days later that the fleet weighed 
anchor and steamed to the southwest, and on the morning of 
June 22d landed at Daiquiri, the village having first been 
shelled by the smaller gunboats. The afternoon of the fol- 
lowing day the Rough Riders received orders to march. 



,10 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

Just before leaving Tampa the Rough Riders had been 
brigaded with the First (white) and the Tenth (colored) 
Regular Cavalry under Brigadier-General Young, as the 
Second Brigade. The First Brigade consisted of the Third 
and Sixth (white) and the Ninth (colored) Regular Cavalry 
under Brigadier-General Sumner. These two brigades were 
under the command of General Joseph Wheeler, the cele- 
brated Confederate leader. 

ON CUBAN SOIL 

After landing at Daiquiri, the Rough Riders marched about 
a mile inland and camped. In the meantime General Law- 
ton, who afterwards lost his life in the Philippines, had taken 
the advance and established outposts, and General Wheeler, 
who had made a reconnoissance and located the position of 
the enemy, directed General Young to take the Second Bri- 
gade and push forward. 

The march began about the middle of the afternoon, and 
about dark, after a weary tramp beneath a scorching tropical 
sun, the troops arrived at the town of Siboney. At sunrise 
the next morning, General Young, acting under General 
Wheeler's orders, with four troops of the Tenth and four of 
the First Cavalry, began the march along the valley road 
which led to Santiago, while Colonel Wood led the Rough 
Riders along a hill trail to the left, which joined the main road 
about four miles farther on, at a point where it went over the 
mountain. 

THE BATTLE OF LA QUASSINA 

This place, where the two trails met, was known as La 
Quassina, and it was at this point that the Spanish had taken 
up their position. The Spanish fortification consisted of 
breastworks flanked by block-houses, and after General Young 



THE ROUGH RIDERS in 

had arrived and made a careful examination of the Spanisii 
position, he placed his battery in concealment about a thou- 
sand yards from the Spanish line, deployed the white regulars 
with the colored regulars in support, and after he had given 
time for Colonel Wood to arrive, opened the battle. The 
jungle was extremely dense, and as the Spaniards used smoke- 
less powder, it was almost impossible to locate them, but the 
advance was pushed forward rapidly, and in the face of heavy 
firing the American troops climbed the ridges and drove the 
Spaniards from their intrenchments. In the meantime, 
Colonel Roosevelt and his Rough Riders had commenced 
their advance. The way lay up a very steep hill, and numbers 
of the men, exhausted from their march of the day before, 
had either dropped their bundles or fallen out of line, so that 
less than 500 men went into action. 

MADE NO OUTCRY WHEN HIT 

"We could hear the Hotchkiss guns and the reply of two 
Spanish guns, and the Mauser bullets were singing through 
the trees over our heads, making a noise like the humming of 
telephone wires, but exactly where they came from we could 
not tell," said the Colonel of the Rough Riders in describing 
the fight. "The Spaniards were firing high and for the most 
part by volleys, and their shooting was not very good. 
Gradually, however, they began to get the range, and occa- 
sionally one of our men would crumple up. In no case did 
the men make an outcry when hit, seeming to take it as a 
matter of course; at the outside making only such a remark 
as, 'Well, I got it that time.' " 

Capron's troop took the lead, closely followed by Wood 
and Roosevelt at the head of the other three troops of the 
Third Squadron, and then came Brodie at the head of his 



112 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

squadron. After the Spaniards had been driven from their 
position on the right, the firing slackened somewhat until the 
enemy's outposts were located near the advance guard, when 
a brisk skirmish ensued, with the result that the enemy disap- 
peared through the jungle to their main line in the rear. 

DEATH OF FISH AND CAPRON 

"Here," says Mr. Roosevelt, "at the very outset of our 
active service, we suffered the loss of two as gallant men as 
ever wore uniforms. Sergeant Hamilton Fish, at the extreme 
front, while holding the point to its work and firing back 
where the Spanish advance guard lay, was shot and instantly 
killed; three of the men with him were likewise hit. Captain 
Capron, leading the advance guard in person, and displaying 
equal courage and coolness in the way that he handled them, 
was also struck, and died a few minutes afterwards. While I 
had led the troop back to the trail, I ran ahead of them, pass- 
ing the dead and wounded men of L Troop. 

A HAIL OF BULLETS 

"When I came to the front I found the men spread out in 
a very thin skirmish line, advancing through comparatively 
open ground, each man taking advantage of what cover he 
could, while Wood strode about leading his horse, Brodie 
being close at hand. How Wood escaped being hit I do not 
see, and still less how his horse escaped. I had left mine at 
the beginning of the action, and was only regretting that I had 
not left my sword with it, as it kept getting between my legs 
as I was making my way through the jungle. Very soon after 
I reached the front, Brodie was hit, the bullet shattering one 
arm and whirling him round as he stood. Thereupon Wood 
directed me to take charge of the left wing in Brodie's place 




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THE ROUGH RIDERS 113 

and bring it forward. A perfect Ii;iil of I)ullets was sweeping 
over us as we advanced. Once I got a glimpse of some Span- 
iards, apparently retreating far to the front and to our right, 
and we fired a couple of rounds after them. Then I became 
convinced, after much anxious study, that we were being fired 
at from some large red-tiled buildings, part of a ranch on our 
front. Smokeless powder and a thin cover in our front con- 
tinued to puzzle us, and I more than once consulted anxiously 
the officers as to the exact whereabouts of our opponents. I 
took a rifle from a wounded man and began to try shooting 
with it myself. It was very hot and the men were getting 
exhausted, though at this particular time we were not suffer- 
ing heavily from bullets, the Spaniards' fire going too high. 

EMPTY CARTRIDGE SHELLS AND TWO DEAD SPANIARDS 

"As we advanced the cover became a little thicker and I 
lost sight of the main body under Wood; soon 1 halted and 
we fired industriously at the ranch buildings ahead of us, some 
500 yards off. Then we heard repeating rifles on the right, 
and I supposed that this meant a battle on the part of Wood's 
men, so 1 sprang up and ordered the men to rush the build- 
ings ahead of us; they came forward with a will. There was 
a moment of heavy firing from the Spaniards, which all went 
over our heads, and then ceased entirely. When we arrived 
at the buildings, panting and out of breath, they contained 
nothing but heaps of empty cartridge shells and two Span- 
iards shot through the head." 

THE KILLED AND WOUNDED 

The Rough Riders lost eight men killed and thirty-four 
wounded in the last La Quassina fight. The First Cavalry 
lost seven men killed and eight wounded. The Tenth Cav- 



114 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

airy, one man killed and ten wounded. After the charge the 
regiment moved on a few miles and went into camp. The 
same day General Young was attacked by a fever and General 
Wood took charge of the brigade; this left Colonel Roose- 
velt in charge of the regiment. On June 30th, the Rough 
Riders received orders to march against Santiago, and at once 
struck camp and, led by the First and Tenth Cavalry, began 
to move toward the Spanish city. After marching until about 
eight o'clock Colonel Roosevelt's men went into camp on El 
Paso Hill. No orders had been given except to the effect 
that the jnfantry under General Lawton was to capture El 
Caney, while Colonel Roosevelt's force was merely to make a 
diversion mainly with the artillery. Finding that his force 
was directly in line of the Spanish fire, which was made very 
evident by shells which began to burst in their midst, General 
Wood formed his brigade and, with the Rough Riders in 
front, ordered Colonel Roosevelt to follow behind the First 
Brigade, which was just then moving off the ground. Colonel 
Roosevelt was then ordered to cross the ford of the San Juan 
River, march half a mile to the right and then halt and await 
further orders. Meantime the battle was on and the Span- 
iards on the hills were firing in volleys. 

THE SPANIARDS' FIRE PRACTICALLY UNAIMED 

Colonel Roosevelt says that while his troops were lying in 
reserve they suffered nearly as much as afterwards when they 
charged. In his opinion the bulk of the Spaniards' fire was 
practically unaimed, or at least not aimed at any particular 
man, and only occasionally at a particular body of men; but 
they swept the whole field of battle up to the edge of the 
river, and man after man in his ranks fell dead or wounded, 
although he had his troops scattered far about, taking advan- 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 115 

tage of even' scrap of cover. Finally Colonel Roosevelt 
received orders to move forward and support the regulars in 
the assault on the hills in front. 

HIS CROWDED HOUR BEGAN 

"The instant I received the order," says Colonel Roosevelt, 
"I si^rang on my horse and then my crowded hour began. 
Guerrillas had been shooting at us from the hedges and from 
their perches in the leafy trees, and as they used smokeless 
powder it was almost impossible to see them, though a few of 
my men had from time to time responded. They had also 
moved from the hill on the right, which was held chiefly by 
guerrillas, although there were also some Spanish regulars with 
them, for we found them dead. I formed my men in columns 
of troops, each troop extended in open skirmishing order, the 
right resting on the wire fences which bore on the sunken 
land. The Ninth and First Regiments went up Kettle Hill 
with the Rough Riders, and General Sumner giving the Tenth 
the order to charge, the Third Regiment went forward, keep- 
ing up a heavy fire." 

Colonel Roosevelt then addressed the captain in command 
of the rear platoon, saying that he had been ordered to sup- 
port the regulars in the attack upon the hills, and that in his 
judgment they could not take these hills by firing on them; 
that they must rush them. The officer answered that his 
orders were to keep his men lying where they were and that 
he could not charge without orders. He asked where the 
Colonel was, and as he was not in sight, Colonel Roosevelt 
said: "I am the ranking officer here, and I give the order to 
charge," for he did not want to keep the men longer in the 
open, suffering under a fire that they could not return. The 
officer again hesitated, but Colonel Roosevelt rode on through 



Ii6 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

the lines, followed by his Rough Riders. This proved too 
much for the regulars, and they followed after. 

GAVE THE ORDER TO CHAEGE 

When the Rough Riders came to where the head of the 
left wing of the Ninth was lying, Colonel Roosevelt gave the 
order to charge the hill on his right front, and the line, tired 
of waiting, obeyed the command with alacrity at once. Imme- 
diately after the hill was covered by American troops, consist- 
ing of Rough Riders and the colored troops of the Ninth, 
together with some men of the First; but no sooner had they 
captured the position than the Spaniards opened a heavy fire 
upon them with rifles, while several pieces of artillery threw 
shells with considerable effect into their midst. From this 
vantage ground Colonel Roosevelt could observe the charge 
on the San Juan block-house on his left, and he decided to 
gather his men together and start them volley-firing against 
the Spaniards in the block-house and in the trenches 
around it. 

"The infantry got nearer and nearer the crest of the hill," 
says Mr. Roosevelt, in his account of the battle. "At last 
we could see the Spaniards running from the rifle-pits as the 
Americans came on in their final rush. Then I stopped my 
men for fear they should injure their comrades, and called 
to them to charge the next line of trenches, on the hills in our 
front, from which we had been undergoing a good deal of 
punishment. Thinking that the men would all come, I 
jumped over the wire fence in front of us and started at the 
double; but, as a matter of fact, the troopers were so excited, 
what with shooting and being shot, and shouting and cheer- 
ing, that they did not hear, or did not heed me; and after run- 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 117 

ning about a hundred yards I found I had only five men along 
with me. 

A MISUNDERSTOOD ORDER 

"Bullets were ripping the grass all around us, and one of 
the men, Clay Green, was mortally wounded; another, Wins- 
low Clark, a Harvard man, was shot first in the leg and then 
through the body. He made not the slightest murmur, only 
asking me to put his water canteen where he could get at it, 
which I did; he ultimately recovered. There was no use 
going on with the remaining three men, and I bade them stay 
where they were v/hile I went back and brought up the rest of 
the brigade. This was a decidedly cool request, for there was 
really no possible point in letting them stay there while I went 
back; but at the moment it seemed perfectly natural to me, 
and apparently so to them, for they cheerfully nodded, and 
sat down in the grass, firing back at the line of trenches from 
which the Spaniards were shooting at them. 

"LEAD ON, WE'LL FOLLOW YOU" 

"Meanwhile, I ran back, jumped over the wire fence, and 
went over the crest of the hill, filled with anger against the 
troopers, and especially those of my own regiment, for not 
having accompanied me. They, of course, were quite inno- 
cent of wrong-doing, and even while I taunted them bitterly 
for not having followed me, it was all I could do not to smile 
at the look of inquiry and surprise that came over their faces, 
while they cried out, 'We didn't hear you, we didn't see you 
go, Colonel; lead on now, we'll sure follow you.' I wanted 
the other regiments to come, too, so I ran down to where 
General Sumner was and asked him if I might make the 
charge, and he told me to go and that he would see that the 
men followed. 



Ii8 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

"By this time everybody had his attention attracted, and 
when I leaped over the fence again, with Major Jenkins beside 
me, the men of the various regiments whicli were already on 
the hill came with a rush, and we started across the wide val- 
ley which lay between us and the Spanish intrenchments. 
Captain Dimmick, now in command of the Ninth, was bring- 
ing it forward; Captain McBlain had a number of Rough 
Riders mixed in with his troop, and led them all together; 
Captain Taylor had been severely wounded. The long- 
legged men like Greenway, Goodrich, sharpshooter Proffit, 
and others, outstripped the rest of us, as we had a consider- 
able distance to go. Long before we got near them the Span- 
iards ran, save a few here and there, who either surrendered 
or were shot down. When we reached the trenches we found 
them filled with dead bodies in the light blue and white uni- 
form of the Spanish regular army. There were very few 
wounded. Most of the fallen had little holes in their heads, 
from which their brains were oozing; for they were covered 
from the neck down by the trenches. 

KILLS A SPANIARD 

"It was at this place that Major Wessels, of the Third 
Cavalry, was shot in the back of the head. It was a severe 
wound, but after having it bound up he again came to the 
front in command of his regiment. Among the men who 
were foremost was Lieutenant Milton E. Davis of the First 
Cavalry. He had been joined by three men of the Seventy- 
first New York, who ran up, and saluting, said, 'Lieutenant, we 
want to go with you, our officers won't lead us.' One of the 
brave fellows was soon afterwards shot in the face. Lieu- 
tenant Davis's first sergeant, Clarence Gould, killed a Spanish 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 119 

soldier with his revolver, just as the Spaniard was aimin^^ at 
one of my Rough Riders. 

"At about the same time I also shot one. I was with 
Henrj^ Bardshar, running up at the double, and two Spaniards 
leaped from the trenches and fired at us, not ten yards away. 
As they turned to run I closed in and fired twice, missing the 
first and killing the second. My revolver was from the sunken 
battleship Maine, and had been given me by my brother-in- 
law. Captain W. S. Cowles, of the Navy. At the time I did 
not know of Gould's exploit, and supposed my feat to be 
unique; and although Gould had killed his Spaniard in the 
trenches, not very far from me, I never learned of it until 
weeks after. It is astonishing what a limited area of vision 
and experience one has in the hurly-burly of a battle. 

BLACK AND WHITE SOLDIERS MIXED 

"There was very great confusion at this time, the different 
regiments being completely intermingled — white regulars, 
colored regulars, and Rough Riders. General Sumner had 
kept a considerable force in reserve on Kettle Hill, under 
Major Jackson, of the Third Cavalry. We were still under a 
heavy fire, and I got together a mixed lot of men and pushed 
on from the trenches and ranch-houses which we had just 
taken, driving the Spaniards through a line of palm trees and 
over the crests of a chain of hills. 

OVERLOOKED SANTIAGO 

"When we reached these crests we found ourseives over- 
looking Santiago. Some of the men, including Jenkins, 
Greenway, and Goodrich, pushed on almost by themselves far 
ahead. Lieutenant Hugh Berkely, of the b^irst, with a ser- 
geant and two troopers, reached the extreme front. He was, 



120 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

at the time, ahead of every one; the sergeant was killed and 
one trooper wounded; but the lieutenant and the remaining 
trooper stuck to their post for the rest of the afternoon, until 
our line was gradually extended to include them. 

"While I wa.s re-forming the troops on the chain of hills, 
one of General Sumner's aides came up with orders to me to 
halt where I was, not advancing farther, but to hold the hill at 
all hazards." 

Colonel Roosevelt says that in the attack on the San Juan 
hills his regiment lost eighty-nine killed and wounded; the 
loss of the entire American forces being 1,071 killed and 
wounded. "I think we suffered more heavily than the Span- 
iards did in the killed and wounded," says Colonel Roosevelt. 
"It would have been very extraordinary if the reverse was the 
case. ' 

THE SURRENDER OF SANTIAGO 

Every one is familiar with the events following the charge 
up San Juan Hill and preceding the capture of Santiago — the 
suffering in the crowded trenches, the hours of weary waiting 
and desultory fighting, in all of which the Rough Riders did 
their part with the precision of regulars. On the 17th of July, 
the city of Santiago formally surrendered, after which the 
cavalry was marched back to the foot of the hill west of EI 
Caney, and there went to camp. 

Many of the Rough Riders had already been stricken 
down with fever, and in the new camp matters grew worse in 
a very short time. Over 50 per cent were unfit for any kind 
of work; all their clothing was in rags; even the officers were 
without stockings and underv.'ear. Yellow fever then broke 
out, but chiefly among the Cubans, and, owing to the panic 
caused by the dread of this disease, the authorities at Wash- 



THE ROUGH RIDERS 121 

ington hesitated to order the army to return to the United 
States, fearing that it might introduce the plague into the 
country. General Shafter then summoned a council of 
officers, hoping by united action to induce the government to 
take some active step toward relieving the army at Santiago 
from destruction. 

THE CELEBRATED ROUND ROBIN 

Finally the "Round Robin," signed by Colonel Roosevelt 
and all the other officers, was made public. As Mr. Riis 
says, this celebrated communication "startled the American 
people and caused measures of instant relief to be set on foot, 
the fearful truth that the army was perishing from privation 
and fever was not known. The cry it sent up was, 'Take us 
home. We will fight for the flag to the last man if need be. 
But now our fighting is done, we will not be left here to die.' 
It was significant that the duty of making the unwelcome dis- 
closure fell to the Colonel of the Rough Riders. Of all the 
officers who signed it he was the youngest; but from no one 
could the warning have come with greater force. The 
Colonel of the Rough Riders, at the head of his men on San 
Juan Hill, much as I like the picture, is not half so heroic a 
figure to me as Roosevelt in this hour of danger and doubt, 
shouldering the blame for the step he knew to be right. 

RETURN OF THE ROUGH RIDERS 

"So the army came home, his Rough Riders with it, 
ragged, sore, famished, enfeebled, with j'awning gaps in its 
ranks, but saved; they to tell of his courage and unwearying 
patience; how in the fight he was always where the bullets 
flew thickest, until he seemed to them to have a charmed life; 
how, when it was over, as they lay out in the jungle and in the 



122 THE ROUGH RIDERS 

trenches at night, they found him always there, never tiring 
of looking after his men, of seeing that the wounded were 
cared for and the well were fed; ready to follow him through 
thick and thin wherever he led, but unwilling to loaf in camp 
or to do police duty when the country was no longer in need 
of them to fight; he to be hailed by his grateful fellow citizens 
with the call to 'step up higher.' " 



CHAPTER IX 

GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 

Theodore Roosevelt's Pledge — Ambitious to be Right— Chauncey M. Depew 
Places Roosevelt's Name in Nomination— Advocate of Civil Service 
Reform — Labor Laws— State Canals — Did Not Wish to be Vice-Presi- 
dent — Street Franchise Legislation— State Factory Law Enforced — 
Friend of the Common People. 

When Theodore Roosevelt took the oath of office as gov- 
ernor of New York he said in his inaugural speech: 

"It is not given to any man, nor to any set of men, to see 
with absolutely clear visition into the future. All that can be 
done is to face the facts as we find them; to meet each diffi- 
culty in practical fashion, and to strive steadily for the better- 
ment both of our civil and social conditions." 

Said an old State official to Jacob A. Riis at the close of 
Governor Roosevelt's term of office, "I know that he left 
something behind that was worth our losing him to get. This 
past winter, for the first time, I heard the question spring up 
spontaneously, as it seemed, when a measure was up in the 
legislature, 'Is it right?' Not 'Is it expedient?' Not 'How is 
it going to help me?' Not 'What is it worth to the party?' 
Not any of these, but 'Is it right?' That is Roosevelt's legacy 
to Albany. And it was worth his coming and his going to 
have that." 

And so it appears, as the celebrated author of "How the 
Other Half Lives" has expressed it, while Theodore Roose- 



124 GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 

velt was learning to be president while governor of New York, 
he taught us Henry Clay's lesson that there is one thing that 
is even better than to be president, namel}', to be right. 

Upon the return of Colonel Roosevelt from Cuba he was 
hailed as hero on every side, and it was but natural that he 
should be mentioned as the most available candidate for gov- 
ernor of New York, and in the convention held at Saratoga, 
September 27, 1898, he received the nomination. Colonel 
Roosevelt's name was presented to the convention by Hon. 
Chauncey M. Depew in the following speech: 

MR. DEPEW NOMINATES ROOSEVELT 

Gentlemen: Not since 1863 has the Republican party met in convention when 
the conditions of the country were so interesting or so critical. Then the emanci- 
pation proclamation of President Lincoln, giving freedom and citizenship to four 
millions of slaves, brought about a revolution in the internal policy of our government 
which seemed to multitudes of patriotic men full of the gravest dangers to the 
republic. The effect of the situation was the sudden and violent sundering of the 
ties which bound the present to the past and the future. New problems were 
precipitated upon our statesmen to solve, which were . not to be found in the text- 
books of the schools, nor in the manuals of traditions of Congress. The one cour- 
ageous, constructive part which our politics has known for half a century solved 
those problems so successfully that the regenerated and disenthralled republic has 
grown and prospered under its new birth of liberty beyond all precedent and every 
prediction. 

Now, as then, the unexpected has happened. The wildest dream ever born of 
the imagjination of the most optimistic believer in our destiny could not foresee when 
McKinley was elected two years ago the onrushing torrent of events of the past 
three months. We are either to be submerged by this break in the dikes erected by 
Washington about our government, or we are to find by the wise utilization of the 
conditions forced upon us how to be safer and stronger within our old boundaries, 
and to add incalculably to American enterprise and opportunity by becoming master 
of the sea, and entering with the surplus] of our manufactures the markets of the 
world. We cannot retreat or hide. We must "ride the waves and direct the 
storm." A war has been fought and won, and vast possessions, near and far away, 
have been acquired. In the short space of one hundred and thirteen days politicians 



GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 125 ' 

and parties have been forced to meet new questions and to take sides upon startling 
issues. The face of the whole world has been changed. The maps of yesterday are 
obsolete. Columbus, looking for the Orient and its fabled treasures, sailed four 
hundred years ago into the land-locked harbor of Santiago, and to-day his spirit 
sees his bones resting under the flag of a new and great country, which has found 
the way and conquered the ovitposts, and is knocking at the door of the farthest East 
The wife of a cabinet oflBcer told me that when Assistant Secretary Roosevelt 
announced that he had determined to resign and raise a regiment for the war, some 
of the ladies in the administration thought it their duty to remonstrate with him. 
They said: "Mr. Roosevelt, you have si-^c children, the youngest a few months old, 
and the eldest not yet in the teens. While the country is full of young men who 
have no such responsibiUties and are eager to enlist, you have no right to leave the 
burden upon your wife of the care, support, and bringing up of that family." 
Roosevelt's answer was a Roosevelt answer: "I have done as much as any one to 
bring on this war, because I believed it must come, and the sooner the better, and 
now that the war has come I have no right to ask others to do the fighting and stay 
at home myself." 

THE TYPICAL CITIZEN-SOLDIER 

The regiment of Rough Riders was an original American suggestion, and to 
demonstrate that patriotism and indomitable courage are common to all conditions 
of American life. The same great qualities are found under the slouch hat of the 
cowboy and the elegant imported tile of New York's gilded youth. Their manner- 
isms are the veneers of the West and the East; their manhood is the same. 

In that hot and pest -cursed climate of Cuba officers had opportunities for protec- 
tion from miasma and fever which were not possible for the men. But the Rough 
Riders endured no hardships nor dangers which were not shared by their colonel. 
He helped them dig the ditches ; he stood beside them in the deadly dampness of the 
trenches. No floored tent for him if his comrades must sleep on the ground and 
under the sky. In that world-famed charge of the Rough Riders through the hail 
of shot and up the bill of San Juan their colonel was a hundred feet in advance. 
The bullets whistling by him are rapidly thinning the ranks of those desperate 
fighters. The colonel trips and falls and the line wavers, but in a moment he is up 
again, waving his svrord, climbing and shouting. He bears a charmed life. He 
climbs the barbed-wire fence and plunges through, yelling, "Come on, boys; come 
on, and we will lick hell out of them." The moral force of that daring cowed and 
awed the Spaniards, and they fled from their fortified heights and Santiago was ours. 

Colonel Roosevelt is the typical citizen-soldier. The sanitary condition of our 
army in Cuba might not have been known for weeks through the regular channels 



126 GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 

of inspection and report to the various departments. Here the citizen in the colonel 
overcame the official routine and reticence of the soldier. His graphic letter to the 
government and the round robin he initiated brought suddenly and sharply to our 
attention the frightful dangers of disease and death, and. resulted'in our'boys being 
brought immediately home. He may have been subject to court-martial for violating 
the articles of war, but the humane impulses of the people gave him gratitude and 
applause. 

PERSONIFIES THE PROGRESSIVE SIDE 
It is seldom in political conflicts, when new and unexpected issues have to be 
met and decided, that a candidate can be found who personifies the popular and pro- 
gressive side of these issues. Representative men move the mas.ses to enthusiasm 
and are more easily understood than measures. Lincoln, with his immortal declara- 
tion, made at a time when to make it assured his defeat by Douglas for the United 
States Senate, that "a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this gov- 
ernment cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free," embodied the anti- 
slavery doctrine. Grant, with Appomattox and the parole of honor to the Confederate 
army behind him, stood for the perpetuity of union and liberty. McKinley, by his 
long and able advocacy of its principles, is the leading spirit for the protection of 
American indu.stries. For this year, for this crisis, for the voters of the Empire 
State, for the young men of the country and the upward, onward and outward trend 
of the United States, the candidate is the hero of Santiago, the idol of the Rough 
Riders — Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. 

ELECTED GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 

A vigorous campaign followed, in which Colonel Roosevelt 
took an active part. His opponent was Augustus Van Wyck, 
the candidate on the Democratic ticket, and whom he defeated 
by a plurality of about 17,000 votes. 

Colonel Roosevelt was one of the youngest men ever 
elected to the office of governor of New York. For the first 
time in its history, too, the State had for its chief executive an 
advocate of civil service reform. As many politicians of both 
parties were opposed to the latter policy, it is easy to see that 
Governor Roosevelt had at least one perplexing responsibility 
to face when he came to the gubernatorial chair. 



GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 127 

But in spite of considerable opposition he was able to fol- 
low out his own ideas and place men of his own choosing in 
the important offices. He endeavored to secure the passage 
of a bill to raise the standard of civil service and to change 
the police system of New York, but the bill failed of passage 
and it was this and other work that he felt had not been com- 
pleted that made him opposed to being nominated for the 
vice-presidency. To quote his own words, he wished "sin- 
cerely to be reelected governor of New York because there 
were things to be done there that he felt he could and ought 
to do." 

WHAT HE ACHIEVED 

But he did much good work, and among other achieve- 
ments of importance to the welfare of the State was that of 
reforming the administration of the canals, making the canal 
commission non-partisan, and the application of the merit sys- 
tem in county offices. These were comparatively easy of 
accomplishment when compared with his measure to force the 
corporations of the State to pay their share of the taxation. 
In 1899, he persuaded the legislature to pass an act taxing 
as real estate the values of railroad and other franchises to 
use public streets. The leaders of both parties, and the repre- 
sentatives of corporations, brought every pressure to bear 
upon the Governor, but he stated that he would sign the bill 
unless a better one could be suggested. The contest which 
followed was the most remarkable in the history of the State, 
if not of the Union, with the result that Governor Roosevelt 
was obliged to call an extra session, in which he secured the 
passage of the bill, somewhat modified, but establishing the 
principle of street franchise legislation. 



128 GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK 

THZ FRIEND OF THE COMMON PEOPLE 

And the bill not only became a law, but was enforced, 
so that corporations were compelled to defray the larger pro- 
portion of the taxes of the State. In fact, while friendly to 
capital, Mr. Roosevelt, whether as Governor of New York or 
President of the United States, has ever had an eye to the 
welfare of the common people. This v/as exemplified in his 
noble efforts in behalf of the New York poor when, largely 
through him, the State factory law was enforced, thus doing 
away with the pernicious sweat shop system. 











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CHAPTER X 
HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 

The Cause of His Leadership— Attitude toward the Panama Republic— Self- 
confidence— The Spanish War— Kis First Chance- A Flesh and Blood 
Candidate— Roosevelt's domination as Vice-President — Seconds the 

Nomination of President McKinley— A Memorable Campaign Tour 

A National Tragedy— Grasps the Reins of Power— A Hazardous Ride 
— Roosevelt's Proclamation. 

The story of how Theodore Roosevelt became President is 
a subject that will interest young Americans — and old Ameri- 
cans — to the remotest generations. So long as constitutional 
government lasts on this hemisphere, his unique, and, in many 
respects, his picturesque career will be the subject of daily dis- 
cussion, his code of political ethics the theme of many a writ- 
ten thesis. 

A NATURAL SELECTION 

It is but fair to say that, although the American people 
have called a few mediocrities to the Presidency, generally 
speaking, that high honor has been conferred as a result of a 
natural selection. As has been intimated, none other than 
Mr. Roosevelt, with the probable exception of John Quincy 
Adams and the possible exception of Martin Van Buren, has 
been the result of particular and individual selection. Take a 
recent example, for instance, Grover Cleveland, now dubbed 
by many the most distinguished private citizen of the world, 
was content to be sheriff of his county in middle age. The 
Presidency a few years later came to him certainly as a sur- 

129 



130 HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 

prise, and to a less phlegmatic temperament it might have 
been a shock. 

BEGINNINO OF HIS LEADERSHIP 

One does not have to go back so far in an effort to trace the 
genesis of Theodore Roosevelt's leadership or to analyze the 
cause of his present commanding position before the country. 
Only to the campus at Harvard, where he was a student 
leader, as he has since been a leader of full fledged men. He 
took life seriously then, but not too seriously. There was a 
flippant side to his nature. There is a flippant side to his 
nature now, but not too flippant. 

He has been all his life a boy and man to do things, to 
initiate and to initiate on his own responsibility, accepting with 
equipoise whatever of praise or blame might come his way. 
He is not impervious to criticism, and has been known to lose 
his temper, almost his head, over a newspaper article which, 
from his viewpoint, was not justified. 

HOLDS TO HIS PURPOSE 

But once his hand is set to the plow no amount of adverse 
comment swerves him a hair's breadth. Look at his attitude 
toward the Panama Republic. He was assailed not only by a 
vindictive and partisan press — that was to be expected — but 
by men of his own party, like the venerable and unbesmirched 
Hoar of Massachusetts, and yet he lost none of his faith in 
self, which is but another way of saying he lost none of his faith 
in that Union, loyalty to which is as the breath of his nostrils. 

This is one of the things that helped to make Mr. Roose- 
velt President — a supreme self-confidence without losing confi- 
dence in his fellow men; a sublime egoism widely differentiated 
from self-conceit. 



HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME TRESIDENT i.^i 

THE OPPORTUNITY CAME 

It has been said that the Spanish War gave him his oppor- 
tunity, and that that is "how Theodore Roosevelt became 
President." Not so; at least not more so than that the Civil 
War gave Grant his opportunity; the Revolution, Washing- 
ton a chance to write his name upon the scroll of fame. It 
takes a man to grasp an opportunity, a man from the ground 
up, like Theodore Roosevelt. 

He had done things before that delightful old Fabian 
bushwacker, Maximo Gomez, began to harry Spain for the 
last time. 

The Spanish war gave impetus to Theodore Roosevelt's 
political star, and hastened its velocity, without damaging its 
course. He would have been President one day in any event, 
if there had been no Maine tragedy, no heroic charge up 
Kettle Hill, no surrender of Santiago. 

HOW HE BECAME PRESIDENT 

How he became President is almost as interesting a study 
in the concrete as it is in the abstract. In the abstract he 
attained that high honor as the result of causation. He was 
of presidential timber when a student, when the youngest 
member of the New York Legislature, when the youngest 
delegate to the National Convention which nominated Blaine 
and Logan in 1884, when a ranchman in the Northwest. 

All he needed was growth, and he grew apace. He 
became civil service commissioner, police commissioner, assist- 
ant secretary of the navy, colonel of the Rough Riders, gov- 
ernor of New York. He was grown. 

Concretely he was placed on the Republican national ticket 
in 1900 because his party needed a flesh and blood candidate 



132 HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 

in a dubious year; dubious because of the new issue of over-sea 
expansion, and voters were to pass upon it for the first time. 

In the Republican National Convention of igoo, when the 
roll of States was called for the nomination of candidates for 
president, Alabama yielded to Ohio, and Senator Foraker took 
the platform and placed the name of William McKInley in 
nomination. When he had finished, Governor Roosevelt took 
the platform to second the nomination, and there was wild 
shouting and cheering which lasted for several minutes. The 
Governor waited patiently, but the greeting did not come to 
an end until he raised his hand and indicated his wish that the 
tumult should subside. He spoke in part as follows: 

GOVERNOR ROOSEVELT SECONDS THE NOMINATION 

I rise to second the nomination of William McKinley, because with him as leader 
this people has trod the path of national greatness and prosperity with the strides of 
a giant, and because under him we can and will succeed in the election. Exactly as 
in the past we have remedied the evils which we undertook to remedy, so now when 
we say that a wrong shall be righted, it most assuredly will be righted. 

We stand on the threshold of a new centurj*, a century big with the fate of the 
great nations of the earth. It rests with us to decide now whether in the opening 
years of that century we shall march forward to fresh triumphs, or whether at the 
outset we shall deliberately cripple ourselves for the contest. Is America a weakling, 
to shrink from the work that must be done by the world-powers? No! The young 
giant of the West stands on a continent, and clasps the crest of an ocean in either 
hand. Our nation, glorious in youth and strength, looks into the future with eager 
and fearless eyes, and rejoices, as a strong man, to run the race. We do not stand 
in the craven mood, asking to be spared the task, cringing as we gaze on the contest. 
No. We challenge the proud privilege of doing the work that Providence has 
allotted us, and we face the coming years high of heart and resolute of faith that to 
our people is given to win such honor and renown as has never yet been granted to 
the oeoples of the earth. 

When the applause following his speech had subsided, it 
was a foregone conclusion that his name would occupy the 



HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 133 

second place on the ticket, and when the roll of Slates was 
called there was not a dissenting vote. 

MR. ROOSEVELT'S FAMOUS CAMPAIGN TOUR 
The campaign which followed was made memorable by the 
tour of the vice-presidential nominee, during which time he 
made speeches in two hundred towns in the State of New 
York alone. He made forty speeches in Ohio. Then he 
struck westward, speaking in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, 
North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, 
Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, and 
Indiana. Turning eastward again, he visited the States of 
West Virginia and Maryland. 

ABOUT 500 SPEECHES IN 1900 

On this speech-making tour of the West Mr. Roosevelt 
visited ninety-seven principal cities in the States named, 
making a formal address at each place. But this by no means 
included all of the speeches he made in that campaign, for 
there were nearly two hundred towns in which his special 
train stopped for a few minutes and at which he found crowds 
of citizens, ranging from hundreds to thousands, eager to hear 
the brief speeches he was enabled to make. It would be 
difficult to show the exact number of speeches Mr. Roosevelt 
made In that campaign, but the aggregate was somewhere 
near the five hundred mark. 

In that campaign President McKinley remained quietly at 
his Canton home, just as President Roosevelt passed the sum- 
mer of 1904 at his home at Oyster Bay. In 1900, McKinley, 
with the quiet dignity becoming the President of all the 
people, addressed the public only in his written letter of 
acceptance. The brunt of the active campaign work fell upon 



134 HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 

the shoulders of Theodore Roosevelt. Thus it happened that 
the man who four years ago was the Republican candidate 
for vice-president visited nearly one-half of the States of the 
Union and carried the banner of his party into the thickest of 
the battle. 

A DIFFICULT TASK 

It is difficult to explain in cold type the physical task of 
traveling from 10,000 to 15,000 miles, of making from ten to 
twenty vigorous campaign speeches a day, and of keeping up 
the strain for eight consecutive weeks; but Theodore Roose- 
velt was equal to the task. He traveled, of course, in a special 
train, and he made that train his home in those eight weeks 
of strenuous campaign endeavor. 

Mr. Roosevelt closed the memorable campaign in iqoo by 
visiting two hundred towns and cities in the State of New 
York, beginning the tour at Weehawken on October 22d, and 
closing Saturday night, November 3d, in New York City. 
THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT McKINLEY 

Every one is familiar with the triumphant election of 
McKinley and Roosevelt, and with the latter's record as presi- 
dent of the Senate and with the terrible catastrophe which 
occurred on September 6, 1901, when Leon Czolgosz assassi- 
nated President McKinley in the Temple of Music at the Pan- 
American Exposition at Buffalo. 

Mr. Roosevelt was in Vermont when the tragedy occurred 
and hurried at once to the side of the stricken chief; here he 
remained until the physicians stated that President McKinley 
would probably survive, when he hastened to join his wife and 
children in the Adirondack Mountains, where to his horror 
and surprise a message was brought him that the President's 
condition had changed for the worse. 



HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 135 

The story of Mr. Roosevelt's wild race with death and of 
his hazardous ride down the mountain side as he hurried to 
the bedside of the dying President, is familiar to all. At 
length he arrived at the little railroad station at North Creek, 
where a special train had been waiting for him for several 
hours, and then he learned from Secretary Loeb that the 
President was dead. 

TAKES THE OATH OP OFFICE 

On September 14th, Theodore Roosevelt became President 
of the United States. The oath of office was administered by 
Judge John Hazel of the United States District Court, at 
Buffalo, in the residence of Mr. Ansly Wilcox. After he had 
sworn to faithfully preserve and obey the constitution and 
execute the laws of the United States, he said: "In this hour 
of deep and terrible national bereavement, I wish to state that 
it shall be my intention and endeavor to continue absolutely 
unbroken the policy of President McKinley for the peace and 
prosperity and honor of our beloved country." 

This declaration had a marvelous effect upon the country, 
and when he also gave out the formal notification that there 
would be no change in the personnel of the cabinet, the people 
felt that here was a man to be trusted. Immediately follow- 
ing the taking of the oath of office. President Roosevelt gave 
out the following: 

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S PROCLAMATION 

A proclamation; A terrible bereavement has befallen our people. The Presi- 
dent of the United States has been struck down— a crime committed not only 
against the chief magistrate, but against every law-abiding and liberty-loving citizen. 

President McKinley crowned a life of largest love for his fellow men, of most 
earnest endeavor for their welfare, by a death of Christian fortitude ; and both the 
way in which he lived his life and the way in which, in the supreme hour of trial, he 
met his death will remain forever a precious heritage of our people. 



136 HOW ROOSEVELT BECAME PRESIDENT 

It is meet that we as a nation express our abiding love and reverence for his 
life, our deep sorrow over his untimely death. 

Nov?, therefore, I, Theodore Roosevelt, President of the United States, do 
appoint Thursday next, September igth, the day in which the body of the dead 
President will be laid in its last earthly resting place, as a day of mourning and 
prayer throughout the United States. I earnestly recommend all the people to 
assemble on that day in their respective places of divine worship, there to bow down 
in submission to the will of Almighty God, and to pay out of full hearts their homage 
of love and reverence to the great and good President whose death has smitten the 
nation with bitter grief. 

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed. 

Done at the City of Washington the 14th day of .September, A. D. one thousand 
nine hundred and one, and of the independence of the United States the one hun- 
dred and twenty-si.xth. 
(Seal) Theodore Roosevelt. 

By the President: John Hav, Secretary of State. 



CHAPTER XI 

THE PANAMA CANAL 

History of the Project— Its Inception — The Nicaragua Route Proposed — 
The Canal Bill Signed by the President — Text of the Law — The 
Spooner Substitute— The Direction of the Panama Canal Placed in the 
Hands of the War Department — President Roosevelt on the Canal 
Question- The Incompetency of Colombia — A Bloodless Rebellion— The 
Duty of the United States. 

Probably the greatest event of international significance and 
importance in President Roosevelt's administration was the 
treaty between the new Republic of Panama and the United 
States, for the construction of the isthmian canal. The his- 
tory of this great project is exceedingly interesting. Follow- 
ing the discovery of gold in California and the opening up of 
the Pacific coast, interest was naturally manifested in the 
question of providing an alternative route, safer, more rapid 
and less costly than those round Cape Horn or across the wild 
country and passes of the Rockies. The result was the con- 
struction of the Panama Railroad across the Isthmus of 
Panama, which connects North and South America and sep- 
arates the Atlantic from the Pacific. This railroad was five 
years in building, being completed in 1855. 

PLANS FOR A CANAL 

Following the building of the Panama Railroad came plans 
for a ship canal to be made across the Isthmus of Panama, 
connecting the Atlantic with the Pacific. The plan was to fol- 
low the course of the waterway connecting Colon or Aspin- 

137 



138 THE PANAMA CANAL 

wall, on the Atlantic, with Panama, on the Pacific. The total 
length of the projected waterway was about fifty miles, the 
maximum width 72 feet and the average depth 28 feet. The 
cutting of the Cordilleras, which would necessitate an excava- 
tion of some 350 feet deep at one part, and the controlling of 
the waters of the River Chadres, were the chief difficulties to 
be encountered. 

COMMENCEMENT OF OPERATIONS 

Operations were commenced in 1881, by a French com- 
pany, under M. de Lesseps, and composed of stockholders 
drawn mostly from among the common people. The work of 
excavation went on more or less continuously until 1887, but 
after an expenditure of more than $266,000,000, the company 
fell into difficulties and in 1899 suspended payment. In 
November, 1892, criminal proceedings on behalf of the French 
government were instituted against the leading officials of the 
canal, a committee of inquiry into its affairs was appointed by 
the chamber of deputies, and several prominent French offi- 
cials were convicted of bribery. 

The history of this company's financial operations has 
never been written, but this much is known, that it could only 
show work done to the value of something like $140,000,000; the 
difference, over $120,000,000, having disappeared. In 1893, 
the Colombian government entered into a contract with the 
reorganized Panama Company, whereby the time for the com- 
pletion of the canal was extended to October 31, 1904. In 
1900, a further extension of six years was granted. 

Meanwhile, the Nicaragua route had been proposed, pro- 
viding for a waterway for ships across Central America from 
the Pacific to the Atlantic, passing through the Republic of 
Nicaragua, and utilizing the lake of the same name and the 



THE PANAMA CANAL 139 

San Juan River. The total length of this route was 170 miles 
from Greytown, on the Caribbean Sea, to Brito, on the Pacific. 
Of this distance, about 65 miles would consist of free naviga- 
tion on the San Juan River, and 56 miles of free navigation on 
Lake Nicaragua, a total of 121 miles. 

THE NICARAGUA ROUTE 

The Nicaragua route, according to the official report made 
to President Grant in 1876, possessed, both for the construc- 
tion and maintenance of a canal, greater advantages and 
offered fewer difficulties from engineering, commercial and eco- 
nomic points of view, than any of the other routes shown to be 
practical by surveys sufficiently in detail to enable a judgment 
to be formed by their relative merits. The question of the 
construction of the Nicaragua Canal by the government of the 
United States, or if by private capital with the guarantee of 
the government, received the very serious attention of Con- 
gress. The necessity of the isthmian canal was made obvious 
when the Oregon, during the Spanish-American War, had to 
travel 13,000 miles from San Francisco to Key West to join 
Admiral Sampson's squadron. In all the investigation under- 
taken both by officials and private individuals, the part taken 
by the United States was most prominent. The American 
government, from time to time, dispatched to the isthmus 
many exploring expeditions, and President McKinley, in his 
message to Congress, in 1898, recommended that the United 
States government either purchase or make some arrange- 
ment for the control of this proposed waterway. 

There was one difficulty in the way, however, and that was 
the Clayton-Bulwer treaty, the first article of which provided 
that neither Great Britain nor the United States should obtain 
or maintain exclusive control over the canal; and, as the 



140 THE PANAMA CANAL 

treaty was perpetual and no method was provided for its 
termination, the treaty remained in force until mutually 
abrogated. 

THE TREATY RATIFIED 

Early in the twentieth century a convention was arranged 
by Secretary of State John Hay and Lord Pauncefote, British 
ambassador at Washington, which resulted in giving the 
former sole power and right to construct and control the 
Nicaragua Canal. Many delicate questions of interest were 
involved on both sides, but all were so wisely adjusted that 
both parties ratified the treaty. 

On the Qth of January, 1902, the House of Representatives 
passed a bill providing for the construction of a canal across 
the Isthmus to Nicaragua. The vote was almost unanimous, 
being 30S yeas to 2 nays. In the Senate, after some debate, 
the Spooner bill giving the preference to the Panama route 
was passed June igth, by a vote of 42 yeas to 38 nays. The 
substitute was accepted by the House of Representatives June 
26th, and signed by the President June 28th. 

The action of the United States Congress in passing the 
Spooner substitute for the Nicaragua Canal bill adopted by 
the House, was the result of a supplementary report made by 
the canal commission on the i8th of January, 1902. In its first 
report, made November [6, 1901, the commission recom- 
mended the Nicaragua route for the reason that the demands 
of the French Panama canal company were too exorbitant. 
On the 4th of January, 1902, the French bondholders of the 
Panama route offered their rights, interests and plant to the 
United States for $40,000,000. The United States then offered 
Colombia, Panama being one of the states of that confedera- 
tion, $10,000,000 upon the ratification of the Hay-Herran treaty. 



THE PANAMA CANAL 141 

which in brief gave the former the right to build the canal. 
This was rejected by the Colombians, who demanded more 
monej-, and on November 6, 1903, the independence of 
Panama was recognized by the American government, and a 
treaty entered into with the new republic which granted to the 
United States the occupation and control of the canal zone, 
and authorized the Panama Canal Company to sell its rights 
to the United States government. 

REPORT OF THE COMMISSION 

In comparing the Nicaragua and Panama routes the com- 
mission cited the advantage and disadvantage of each substi- 
tute as follows: 

In each case a canal with locks would be required; the water-supply features 
were satisfactory on both lines; both dams by which the summit levels would be 
sustained were practicable, while the plan of regialating the summit level on the 
Panama route was simpler than that on the other; the absence of harbors on the 
Nicaragua line would make the period of preparation longer than on the Panama 
line, where harbors are already in existence and where a railroad is in operation 
along the whole route. 

The Panama route is 49.09 miles long, and 134.6 miles shorter than the Nicaragua 
route from sea to sea, with fewer locks and less curvature both in degrees and miles. 
The estimated time for a deep-draft vessel to pass through the Nicaragua Canal was 
placed at thirty-three hours, as against twelve hours for Panama, these estimates 
being the time of actual navigation and not including delays for winds, currents or 
darkness. 

If the passage were made without interruption, about a day could be sa\ ed by 
the Nicaragua over the Panama route by ordinary steamers handling commerce 
between Pacific ports and all Atlantic ports, and about two days by steamers of the 
same class trading between gulf ports and north Pacific ports. The time advantage 
of the Nicaragua route would be less in the case of fast high-powered steamers, the 
use of which is increasing. 

Between Atlantic ports and the west coast of South America the Panama route 
has the advantage of about two days, and between the gulf ports and the west coast 
of South America the Panama route has the advantage of about one day. The trade 
of the western coast of South America is a very important one, which has hitherto 



142 THE PANAMA CANAL 

been in European hands. It was also the sense of the commission that the total time 
required for the construction of the canal by the Panama route would be ten years, 
and eight years by the Nicaragua route, with a greater probability of exigencies 
causing delays on the latter than on the former. 

JOHN F. WALLACE APPOINTED CHIEF ENGINEER 

On April 27, 1904, arrangements to pay the $40,000,000 to 
the Panama Canal Company were made and the title of the 
property transferred to the United States. On May 9th, Presi- 
dent Roosevelt put the direction of the Panama Canal zone in 
the hands of the War Department, and issued comprehensive 
rules for building the canal. On May loth, John Findlay 
Wallace, general manager of the Illinois Central Railroad, was 
appointed chief engineer in charge of the construction of the 
Panama Canal. 

Thus was commenced one of the greatest engineering proj- 
ects in the history of the world. For a time President Roose- 
velt was criticised by his political opponents for undue haste 
in recognizing the independence of Panama, notwithstanding 
the protest on the part of the government of Colombia. He 
was able, however, to prove that the position of the United 
States government was absolutely unassailable from the stand- 
point of international law, commercial advisability and national 
honor. In his message to the P'ifty-Eighth Congress, Presi- 
dent Roosevelt said: 

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S MESSAGE 

When the Congress directed that we should take the Panama route under treaty 
with Colombia, the essence of the condition, of course, referred not to the govern- 
ment which controlled that route, but to the route itself; to the territory across which 
the route lay, not to the name which for the moment the territory bore on the map. 
The purpose of the law was to authorize the president to make a treaty with the 
power in actual control of the Isthmus of Panama. This purpose has been fulfilled. 

In the year 1846 this government entered into a treaty with New Granada, the 



THE PANAMA CANAL 143 

predecessor upon the isthmus of the republic of Colombia and of the present republic 
of Panama, by which treaty it was provided that the government and citizens of the 
United States should always have free and open right of way or transit across the 
Isthmus of Panama by any modes of communication that might be constructed, 
while in return our government guaranteed the perfect neutrality of the 'above- 
mentioned isthmus with the view that the free transit from the one to the other sea 
might not be interrupted or embarrassed. The treaty vested in the United States a 
substantial property right car\'ed out of the rights of sovereignty and property which 
New Granada then had and possessed over the said territory. The name of New 
Granada has passed away and its territory has been divided. Its successor, the 
government of Colombia, has ceased to own any property in the isthmus. A new 
republic, that of Panama, which was at one time a sovereign state and at another 
time a mere department of the successive confederations known as New Granada 
and Colombia, has now succeeded to the rights which first one and then the other 
formerly exercised over the isthmus. But as long as the isthmus endures the mere 
geographical fact of its existence and the peculiar interest therein which is required 
by our position perpetuate the solemn contract which binds the holders of the terri- 
tory to respect our right to freedom of transit across it and binds us in return to 
safeguard for the isthmus and the world the exercise of that inestimable pri\'ilege. 
The true interpretation of the obligations upon which the United States entered in 
this treaty of 1846 has been given repeatedly in the utterances of presidents and 
secretaries of state. Secretary Cass in 1858 officially stated the position of this gov- 
ernment as follows: 

SOVEREIGNTY HAS ITS DUTIES 

" The progress of events has rendered the interoceanic route across the narrow 
portion of Central America vastly important to the commercial world, and especially 
to the United States, whose possessions extend along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts 
and demand the speediest and easiest modes of communication. While the rights of 
sovereignty of the states occupying this region should always be respected, we shall 
expect that these rights be exercised in a spirit befitting the occasion and the wants 
and circumstances that have arisen. Sovereignty has its duties as well as its rights, 
and none of these local governjnents. even if administered with more regard to the 
just demands of other nations than they have been, would be permitted, in a spirit 
of Eastern isolation, to close the gates of intercourse on the great highways of the 
world, and justify the act by the pretension that these avenues of trade and travel 
belong to them and that they choose to shut them, or, what is almost equivalent, 
to encumber them with such unjust relations as would prevent their general 
use." 



144 THE PANAMA CANAL 

OPINIONS OF NOTED STATESMEN 

Seven years later, in 1S65, Mr. Seward in different communications took the 
following position : 

"The United States have taken and will take no interest in any question of 
internal revolution in the state of Panama, or any state of the United States of 
Colombia, but will maintain a perfect neutrality in connection with such domestic 
altercations. The United States will, nevertheless, hold themselves ready to protect 
the transit trade across the isthmus against invasion of either domestic or foreign 
disturbers of the'peace of the state of Panama. . . . Neither the text nor the spirit 
of the stipulation in that article by which the United States engages to preserve the 
neutrality of the Isthmus of Panama imposes an obligation on this government to 
comply with the requisition [of the president of the United States of Colombia for a 
force to protect the Isthmus of Panama from a body of insurgents of that country]. 
The purpose of the stipulation was to guarantee the isthmus against seizure or inva- 
sion by a foreign power only." 

Attorney-General Speed, under date of Nov. 7, 1865, advised Secretary Seward 
as follows : 

•■From this treaty it cannot be supposed that New Granada invited the United 
States to become a party to the internecine troubles of that government, nor did the 
United States become bound to take sides in the domestic broils of New Granada. 
The United States did guarantee New Granada in the sovereignty and property over 
the territory'. This was as against other and foreign governments." 

For four hundred years, ever since shortly after the discovery of this hemi- 
sphere, the canal across the isthmus has been planned. For two-score years it has 
been worked at. When made it is to last for the ages. It is to alter the geography of 
a continent and the trade routes of the world. We have shown by every treaty we 
have negotiated or attempted to negotiate with the peoples in control of the isthmus 
and with foreign nations in reference thereto, our consistent good faith in obser%'ing 
our obligations on the one hand to the people of the isthmus and on the other hand 
to the civilized world, whose commercial rights we are safeguarding and guarantee- 
ing by our action. We have done our duty to others in letter and in spirit and we 
have shown the utmost forbearance in exacting our own rights. 

COLOMBIA REPUDIATED TREATY 

Last spring, under the act above"referred to, a treaty concluded between the 
representatives of the republic of Colombia and of our government was ratified by 
the Senate. This treaty was entered into at the urgent solicitation of the people of 
Colombia and after a body of experts appointed by our government especially to go 
into the matter of the routes across the isthmus had ^pronounced unanimously in 



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THE PANAMA CANAL ,45 

favor of the Panama route. In drawing up this treaty every concession was made 
to the people and to the government of Colombia. We were more than just in deal- 
ing with them. Onr generosity was such as to make it a serious question whether 
we had not gone too far in their interest at the expense of our own, for in our 
scrupulous desire to pay all possible heed not merely to the real but even to the 
fancied rights of our weaker neighbor, who already owed so much to our protection 
and forbearance, we yielded in all possible ways to her desires in drawing up the 
treaty. Nevertheless, the government of Colombia not merely repudiated the treaty 
but repudiated it in such manner as to make it evident by the time the Colombian 
Congress adjourned that not the scantiest hope remained of ever getting a satisfac- 
tory treaty from them. The government of Colombia made the treaty, and yet when 
the Colombian Congress was called to ratify it the vote against ratification was unani- 
mous. It does not appear that the government made any real effort to secure rati- 
fication. 

A BLOODLESS REVOLUTION 

Immediately after the adjournment of the Congress a revolution broke out in 
Panama. The people of Panama had long been discontented with the republic of 
Colombia and they had been kept quiet only by the prospect of the conclusion of the 
treaty, which was to them a matter of vital concern. When it became evident that 
the treaty was hopelessly lost, the people of Panama rose literally as one man. 
Not a shot was fired by a single man on the isthmus in the interest of the Colombian 
government. Not a life was lost in the accomplishment of the revolution. The 
Colombian troops stationed on the isthmus, who had long been unpaid, made com- 
mon cause with the people of Panama, and with astonishing unanimity the new 
republic was started. The duty of the United States in the premises was clear. In 
strict accordance with the principles laid down by Secretaries Cass and Seward in 
the official documents above quoted, the United States gave notice that it would 
permit the landing of no expeditionarj- force the arrival of which would mean chaos 
and destruction along the line of the railroad and of the proposed canal and an 
interruption of transit as an inevitable consequence. The de facto government of 
Panama was recognized. 

COLOMBIA UNABLE TO MAINTAIN ORDER 

When these events happened, fifty-seven years had elapsed since the United 
States had entered into its treaty with New Granada. During that time the gov- 
ernments of New Granada and of its successor, Colombia, have been in constant 
state of flux. In short, the experience of over half a century has .shown Colombia to 
be utterly incapable of keeping order on the isthmus. Only the active interference 
of the United States has enabled her to preserve so much as a semblance of 



146 THE PANAMA CANAL 

sovereignty. Had it not been for the exercise by the United States of the police 
power in her interest her connection with the isthmus would have been sundered 
long ago. In 1856, in i860, in 1873, in 1885, in 1901 and again in 1902 sailors and 
marines from United States warships were forced to land in order to patrol the 
isthmus, to protect life and property and to see that the transit across the isthmus 
was kept open. In 1861, in 1862, in 1S85 and in igoo the Colombian government 
asked that the United States government would land troops to protect its interests 
and maintain order on the isthmus. 

The control, in the interest of the commerce and traffic of the whole civilized 
world, of the means of undisturbed transit across the Isthmus of Panama has 
become of transcendent importance to the United States, We have repeatedly 
exercised this control by intervening in the course of domestic dissension and by 
protecting the territory from foreign invasion. In 1853 Mr. Everett assured the 
Peruvian minister that we should not hesitate to maintain the neutrality of the 
isthmus in the case of war between Peru and Colombia. In 1864 Colombia, which 
has always been vigilant to avail itself of its privileges conferred by the treaty, 
expressed its expectation that in the event of war between Peru and Spain the 
United States would carry into effect the guaranty of neutrality. There have been 
few administrations of the state department in which this treaty has not, either by 
the one side or the other, been used as a basis of more or less important demands. 
It was said by Mr. Fish in 1871 that the department of state had reason to believe 
that an attack upon Colombian sovereignty on the isthmus had on several occasions 
been averted by warning from this government. In 1886, when Colombia was 
under the menace of hostilities from Italy in the Cerruti case, Mr. Bayard expressed 
the serious concern that the United States could not but feel that a European power 
should resort to force against a sister republic of this hemisphere, as to the sovereign 
and uninterrupted use of a part of whose territory we are guarantors under the 
solemn faith of a treaty. 

AN XJNREAL SUPREMACY 

The above recital of facts establishes beyond question, first, that the United 
States has for over half a century patiently and in good faith carried out its obliga- 
tions under the treaty of 1846; second, that when for the first time it became possible 
for Colombia to do anything in requital of the services thus repeatedly rendered to it 
for fifty-seven years by the United States, the Colombian government peremptorily 
and oflfensively refused thus to do its part, even though to do so would have been to 
its advantage and immeasurably to the advantage of the state of Panama, at that 
time under its jurisdiction; third, that throughout this period revolutions, riots and 
factional disturbances of every kind have occurred one after the other in almost 



THE PANAMA CANAL 147 

uninterrupted succession, some of them lasting for months and even for years, 
while the central government was unable to put them down or to make peace with 
the rebels; fourth, that these disturbances, instead of showing any sign of abating, 
have tended to grow more numerous and more serious in the immediate past ; fifth, 
that the control of Colombia over the Isthmus of Panama could not be maintained 
without the armed intervention and assistance of the United States. In other words, 
the government of Colombia, though wholly unable to maintain order on the 
isthmus, has nevertheless declined to ratify a treaty the conclusion of which opened 
the only chance to secure its own stability and to guarantee permanent peace on and 
the construction of a canal across the isthmus. 

Under such circumstances the government of the United States would have 
been guilty of folly and weakness, amounting in their sum to a crime against the 
nation, had it acted otherwise than it did when the revolution of November 3d last 
took place in Panama. This great enterprise of building the interoceanic canal can- 
not be held up to gratify the whims, or out of respect to the governmental impo- 
tence or to the even more sinister and evil political peculiarities of people who. 
though they dwell afar off, yet against the wish of the actual dwellers on the isthmus 
assert an unreal supremacy over the territory. The possession of a territory fraught 
with such peculiar capacities as the isthmus in question carries with it obligations to 
mankind. The course of events has shown that this canal cannot be built by private 
enterprise or by any other nation than our own. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE MERGER DECISION 

The Anti-Trust Act — Can Prevent Combination— Judge Thayer's Decision 
Held as a Victory for the People — President Roosevelt Given Much 
Credit — The Declaration of the Court — Trusts are Illegal — A Sweeping 
Opinion — A Triumph of Law. 

On April g, 1903, Judge Thayer, of the United States Cir- 
cuit Court of Appeals, at St. Paul, handed down a decision 
declaring the $400,000,000 Northern Securities Company an 
illegal corporation, and enjoined it from voting the stock to 
the Great Northern and Northern Pacific Railroad Company, 
a decree that this stock should be returned to the former 
owners. The decree entered in accordance with the finding 
was a drastic one, and did not leave a single peg for the great 
merger of the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, and the 
Burlington to hang upon. 

WILL PREVENT CAPITALISTIC COMBINATIONS 

To Attorney General Knox the decision came with 
extreme satisfaction, because the fact that he has all along 
contended that the anti-trust act is broad enough, if rightfully 
interpreted, to prevent a combination of railway or other 
properties inimical to the best interests of the people. It v/as 
recognized that the decision would have a double effect: Of 
preventing other similar mergers of railway interests, and of 
jilacing a ready weapon in the hands of the government in the 
foini ol a clear interpretation of the law with respect to eapi- 

148 



THE MERGER DECISION T49 

talistic combinations whicli arc in restraint of trade. The 
Northern Securities Company was the plan devised l)y the 
brightest minds of the country to circumvent the law and pro- 
vide a legal way of building a strong wall about the securities 
of merger companies, where they could be without fear of the 
water oozing out of them, and without fear of any one inter- 
ested playing with his interest and thereby breaking the com- 
bination. It affords a safe means of unloading the burdensome 
and placing them in a receptacle where they could be dealt 
out to the public when public demand was most favorable. 
The decision was hailed as a triumph of law and as a victory 
for the people, which strengthened their confidence in the 
administration of the law as well as a welcome check upon 
corporate aggression. 

MADE ROOSEVELT'S NOMINATION A CERTAINTY 

The friends of President Roosevelt, in their enthusiasm, 
were of the opinion that the merger decision made his nomi- 
nation and reelection a certainty; in their opinion the masses 
of the American people would give the President much credit 
for his successful efforts to curb monopoly, and to make him 
virtually invincible in the political field. There was also con- 
siderable comment upon the fact that the administration's 
greatest success in the trust-prosecuting line was won by an 
official who had been accused of being a trust-lawyer. 

IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE 

The Northern Securities Company was organized under 
!he laws of New Jersey for the purpose of taking over and 
iiolding the stocks of the Northern Pacific and Great North- 
ern Railroad companies. This was deemed by the Govern- 
ment to be in restraint of interstate trade, and suit was 



I50 THE MERGER DECISION 

brought in the United States Circuit Court at St. Paul, Minn., 
under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act of i8qo. In February, 1893, 
Congress passed an act expediting anti-trust suits, and in 
accordance with the provisions of this law tlie case was given 
precedence over other business, and was heard before four 
judges of the Eighth Circuit, namely, Judges A. M. Thayer, 
H. C. Caldwell, Walter H. Sanborn, and Willis Van Devanter. 
Their decision, written by Judge Thayer, but concurred in by 
all, was that the Northern Securities Company was an illegal 
combination within the meaning of the act of iSqo. 

THE DECREE ENTERED 
A decree was entered adjudging that the stock of the 
Northern Pacific and Great Northern companies held by the 
Securities Company was acquired in virtue of a combination 
among the defendants in restraint of trade and commerce 
among the several States, such as the anti-trust act denounces 
as illegal; enjoining the Securities Company from acquiring 
further stock and from voting such stock at any meeting of 
the stockholders of either of the railroad companies, or exer- 
cising any control or influence over the acts of the companies; 
enjoining the Northern Pacific and Great Northern companies 
from permitting such stock to be voted by the Securities Com- 
pany at any corporate election for directors or officers of said 
companies, and likewise enjoining them from paying any divi- 
dends to the Securities Company on account of said stock, or 
permitting the Securities Company to exercise any control 
whatsoever over the corporate acts of the companies or to 
direct the policy of either; and, finally, permitting the Secu- 
rities Company to return to the stockholders of the Northern 
Pacific and Great Northern companies any and all shares of 
stock of those companies which it )inght have received from 



THE MERGER DECISION , 151 

such stockholders in exchange for its own stock. The court, 
after reciting the facts of the merger, declared: 
DECLARATION OF THE COURT 

The scheme which was thus devised and consummated led inevitably to the fol- 
lowing results: 

First, it placed the control of the two roads in the hands of a single person — to 
wit. the Securities Company — by virtue of its ownership of a large majority of the 
stock of both companies. 

Second, it destroyed every motive for competition between two roads engaged 
in interstate traffic, which were natural competitors for business, by pooling the 
earnings of the two roads for the common benefit of the stockholders of both 
companies. . . . 

The general question of law arising upon this state of facts is whether such a 
combination of interests as that described falls within the inhibition of the anti-tru.st 
act or is beyond its reach. The act brands as illegal every contract, combination in 
the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce among 
the several States or with foreign nations. The generality of the language employed 
is, in our opinion, of great significance. It indicates, we think, that Congress, being 
unable to foresee and describe all the plans that might be formed and all the expe- 
dients that might be resorted to to place restraints on interstate trade or commerce, 
deliberately employed words of such general import as in its opinion would compre- 
hend every scheme that might be devised to accomplish that end. . . . 
IN RESTRAINT OF TRADE 

Moreover, in cases arising under the act it has been held by the highest judicial 
authority in the nation, and its opinion has been reiterated in no uncertain tone, 
that the act applies to interstate carriers of freight and passengers as well as to all 
other persons, natural or artificial ; that the words "in restraint of trade or com- 
merce" do not mean in unreasonable or partial restraint of trade or commerce, but 
any direct restraint thereof; that an agreement between competing railroads which 
requires them to act in concert in fixing the rate for carriage of passengers or 
freight over their respective lines from one State to another, and which by that 
means restricts temporarily the right of any one of such carriers to name such rates 
for the carriage of such freight or passengers over its road as it pleases, is a con- 
tract in direct restraint of commerce within the meaning of the act, in that it tends to 
prevent competition; that it matters not whether, while acting under such a con- 
tract, the rate fixed is reasonable or unreasonable, the vice of such a contract or 
combination being that it confers the power to establish unreasonable rates and 
directly restrains commerce by placing obstacles in the way of free and unrestricted 



152 THE MERGER DECISION 

competition between carriers who are natural rivals for patronage ; and, finally, that 
Congress has the power, under the grant of authority contained in federal legislation, 
to regulate commerce, to say that no contract or combination shall be legal which 
shall restrain interstate commerce or trade by shutting off the operation of the gen- 
eral law of competition. 

VIOLATED THE ANTI-TRUST ACT 

Taking the foregoing propositions for granted, because they have been decided 
by a court whose authority is controlling, it is almost too plain for argument that the 
defendants would have violated the anti-trust act if they had done through the 
agency of natural persons what they have accomplished through an artificial person 
of their own creation. That is to say, if the same individuals who promoted the 
Securities Company, in pursuance of a previous understanding or agreement so to 
do, had transferred their stock in the two railroad companies to a third party or 
parties and had agreed to induce other stockholders to do likewise, until a majority 
of the stock of both companies had been vested in a single individual or association 
of individuals, and had empowered the holder or holders to vote the stock as their 
own, receive all the dividends thereon, and pro rata or divide them among all the 
stockholders of the two companies which had transferred their stock, the result 
would have been a combination in direct restraint of interstate commerce, because 
it would have placed in the hands of a small coterie of men the power to suppress com- 
petition between two competing interstate carriers whose lines are practically parallel. 

It will not do to say that so long as each railroad company has its own board of 
directors they operate independently and are not controlled by the owners of the 
majority of their stock. It is the common experience of mankind that the acts of 
corporations are dictated and that their policy is controlled by those who own the 
majority of their stock. Indeed, one of the favorite methods in these days, and 
about the only method, of obtaining control of a corporation is to purchase the 
greater part of its stock. It was the method pursued by the Northern Pacific and 
the Great Northern companies to obtain control of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 
Railroad; and so long as directors are chosen by stockholders the latter will neces- 
sarily dominate the former and in a real sense determine all important corporate 
acts. . . .Competition, we think, would not be more effectually restrained than it now 
is under and by force of the existing arrangement, if the two railroad companies 
were consolidated under a single charter. 

CONGRESS HAS ABSOLUTE CONTROL 

Referring to the laws of New Jersey under which the Secu- 
rities Company was incorporated, the court held that pre- 



THE MERGER DECISION 153 

sumptively no charter granted by a State is intended to defeat 
a national law such as that relating to interstate commerce, 
over which Congress has absolute control. The power of 
Congress over interstate commerce is supreme, far-reaching, 
and acknowledges no limitations other than such as are pre- 
scribed in the constitution itself. No legislation on the part 
of a State can curtail or interfere with its exercise, and in view 
of repeated decisions no one can deny that it is a legitimate 
e.xercise of the power in question for Congress to say that 
neither natural nor artificial persons can combine or conspire 
in any form whatever to place restraints on interstate trade or 
commerce. 

In reply to the contention that such a combination of 
adverse interests as was formed was lawful and not prohibited 
by the anti-trust act because such restraint as it imposes, if 
any, is indirect, collateral and remote, the court held that the 
combination did directly impose restraint upon interstate com- 
merce. It did not matter through how many hands the orders 
came by which the aims of the company were accomplished. 
The power was not only acquired by the combination, but it 
was effectually exercised, and it operated directly on inter- 
state commerce, notwithstanding the manner of its exercise, 
by controlling the means of transportation, to wit, the cars, 
engines and railroads by which persons and commodities are 
carried, as well as by fixing the price to be charged for such 
carriage. 

LIMITED BY THE COMMERCE CLAUSE 

With respect to the contention that if the Securities Com- 
pany was held to be in violation of the anti-trust act, then the 
act unduly restricted the right of the individual to make con- 
tracts, and for that reason was invalid, the court cited the case 



154 THE MERGER DECISION 

of Addyston Pipe and Steel Company vs. the United States, 
in which the Supreme Court held that the provision of the 
constitution regarding the liberty of the citizen is to some 
extent limited by the commerce clause of the constitution, and 
that the Dower of Congress to regulate interstate commerce 
compriSv,s the right to enact a law prohibiting the citizen from 
entering into those private contracts which directly and sub- 
stantially, and not merely indirectly, remotely, incidentally and 
collaterally, regulate to a greater or less degree commerce 
among the States. 

In the case of the State of Minnesota against the Northern 
Securities Company, the Great Northern and Northern Pacific 
railroad companies. Judge Lochren of the United States Cir- 
cuit handed down a decision at St. Paul, Minn., August i, 1903, 
in which he found for the defendants and dismissed the bill of 
complaint of the State. He decided that the Northern Secu- 
rities Company had not violated the State laws forbidding the 
consolidation of parallel and competing railroads through its 
ownership of the Great Northern and Northern Pacific stock. 
The decision did not affect that given in the government's case 
against the same defendants. In one case State law and in 
the other federal law was at issue. 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

Anxious to Give an Account of His Stewardship — Rides in the Cab with 
the Engineer — ■ Throngs Await His Coming — Arrives at Chicago — 
Reception at Evanston — The President's Celebrated Speech on the 
Monroe Doctrine — Trip through Wisconsin — Famous Address on 
Trusts in Milwaukee, 

President Roosevelt's record-breaking tour through the 
country which commenced April i, 1903, was not planned 
wholly or in part as a scheme to win the nomination. As 
stated by a well-known political authority, the President him- 
self realized that his failure or success before the Republican 
National Convention of 1904 would depend upon the country's 
view of his career in the White House, and that no amount of 
traveling about the country would have much effect upon the 
popular judgment. 

On the other hand, President Roosevelt was anxious to 
meet and talk to the people, as he wanted to give an account 
of his stewardship. His speeches, therefore, were confined to 
a review of the preceding year, because he felt that many of 
the events at Washington which had engaged the attention of 
the country were not fully understood, and he planned to 
present his version during this memorable tour. 

RECEIVED WITH CORDIAL GREETINGS 

The President and his party left Washington on tlie Penn- 
sylvania Railroad at nine o'clock, on Wednesday, April 1st, 
and arrived in Pittsburg at 8.30 the same evening. The 

155 



156 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

journey from Washington proved one of keen enjoyment to 
the Executive, and his gratification over the cordial greetings 
extended to him along the line was manifested in various ways 
to his traveling companions. At but three places were stops 
made — Baltimore, Harrisburg, and Altoona — and at each 
throngs \yere present to indicate, by ringing cheers, the high 
regard in which the people hold the President. 
RIDES WITH THE ENGINEER 

The incident of the day occurred when the train reached 
Altoona at 4:50 o'clock. Here two engines were needed to 
pull the heavy palace cars over the Alleghany Mountains. 
While the coupling was being perfected, the President chatted 
with friends upon the platform, but, as soon as the warning 
bell for the start sounded its first peal, Mr. Roosevelt surprised 
his companions by walking briskly toward the cab of the 
second locomotive, declaring that he was determined to view 
the glorious scenery round the famous Horseshoe Curve from 
that vantage point. The President entered the cab and as he 
took his seat remarked that, being a member of the Brother- 
hood of Locomotive Firemen, he thought he ought to take his 
turn at firing the furnace, but this he did not attempt. When 
Galitzen, the crest of the mountains, was reached, the front 
locomotive was detached from the engine and the run to 
Seward was made with one engine. Here the President 
descended from the lofty seat and, after shaking hands with 
the engineers and firemen, went back to his car rather dusty 
and grimy, but enthusiastic over his rough ride. 

A large crowd met the train at Harrisburg and, although 
no speeches were scheduled, President Roosevelt appeared on 
the rear platform of his car and delivered a short address, 
which was received with many cheers, in answer to hearty 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS OiN Ills TRIP ,^; 

greetings from the president of the Pennsylvania senate ami 
the speaker of the house. President Roosevelt spoke as 
follows: 

SPEECH AT HARRISBURG 

Congressman, Mr. Speaker, Mr. President and Mr. Mayor, and Gentlemen and 
Ladies: I am very greatly touched and pleased by this greeting— a wholly unex- 
pected one. I had not supposed that my speech-making would begin before to-mor- 
row. There is not much for me to say to you. I feel rather when I come liere like 
sitting at the feet of Gamaliel and learning. The prosperity in which you of this State, 
you of this city, have so abundantly shared must come primarily from two sources, 
the individual man, capitalist or wage worker, working for himself as a foundation- 
but upon it the superstructure of the men who work not merely for them- 
selves, but for one another. The president of the senate was kind enough to speak 
of what has been done for the wage worker, and therefore the citizens as a whole 
in this State. 

A MORAL LESSON 

I go away from Washington with a light heart, very largely because of the 
admirable work done by the gentlemen of the anthracite .strike commission. And 
.surely no publication by any association designed purely to teach a moral lesson to ciur 
people can be better worth scanning and learning than the document containing the 
conclusions of those men, and if as a people we will take to heart the lessons taught 
therein, it will be better for all of us. 

Fundamentally our interests are the same. P'undamentally you hurt or help 
some of our people and inevitably you hurt or help others. Fundamentally the most 
important lesson to be learned in our national life is the lesson of our solidarity of 
interests, and that every man of us, if he is fit to be a citizen of this republic, must 
pull his own weight and must also do his best to help his brother at the same time, 

ARRIVES AT CHICAGO 

The President and his party reached Chicago about nine 
o'clock Thursday morning, April 2d. He was met at the sta- 
tion by a delegation of distinguished Chicagoans, and although 
there was a reception in his coach, few formalities marked this 
first function. President Roosevelt's mission, at this juncture, 
lay out in Evanston at the Northwestern University, where the 
people were waiting to do him honor. Another locomotive, 



158 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

this lime manned by a crew of tlie Chicago, Milwaukee and 
St. Paul Railroad, steamed down the track, was coupled to 
the presidential train and, waving a temporary farewell, the 
President disappeared within his car. 

At Evanston, preparation for a generous welcome had been 
going forward almost since dawn, and when the special drew 
up at the station all was in readiness. Mayor Patton greeted 
the distinguished guest; the words of welcome were spoken 
and answered; trumpets sounded; soldiers wheeled into line, 
and the cavalcade started on its way to the Northwestern 
University. 

A very touching incident occurred during the drive. As 
the President's carriage passed in front of Rest Cottage, the 
old home of Frances E. Willard, and the place was pointed 
out to him by Mayor Patton, Mr. Roosevelt had the carriage 
pause for a moment before it, and reverently saluted the home 
of the late temperance leader. Miss Willard and Mr. Roose- 
velt met when he was police commissioner of New York, and 
she was much impressed by his vigorous and manly character. 

AN ARMY OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 

Finally a crossing was reached and the lines of men and 
women gave way. In their place was an army of school chil- 
dren. Each tiny hand clutched a flag and waved it vigorously. 
The President dropped his hat on the carriage seat beside him 
and held his hands out in expressive welcome to the little 
tots. The response was a shower of roses and carnations that 
fell in the carriage and beneath the horses' feet. At last the 
gray walls of the university showed in the distance. The 
entrance to the grounds was reached and after greeting the 
students, who hailed him joyously, he entered the college. 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 159 

After listening to words of welcome by President James, the 
Chief Executive responded, in part, as follows: 

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S EVANSTON SPEECH 

We have no room for the idler here; we have no room for the man who merely 
wishes to lead a pleasant life; if that is all he desires he can never count in Ameri- 
can work; if the man has not got in him the desire to count, the desire to do good 
work in whichever line he adopts, then scant is our use for him. 

But if he has got it in him, then all that I ask him to remember is this — all that 
I ask each one of you here to remember is this: that if you go from this university — 
from any university — feeling merely that your course has given you special privileges ; 
if you feel that it has put you in a class apart, you will fail in life. If you feel, on 
the other hand, that the very fact of your having had special advantages imposes 
upon you special responsibilities, makes it specially incumbent upon you to show that 
you can do your duty with peculiar excellence ; if you approach life in that spirit the 
university training will have done much for you. 

PHYSICAL AND MENTAL STRENGTH 

We need all the training for mind that can be given. We need all the training 
for body that can be given. I welcome every form of rough, vigorous athletic 
sports. Some of the cheering this morning made me feel as if I was looking on at a 
good football game. I welcome all forms of manly, vigorous, rough exerci.se. The 
best kind of work that can be done is such as is done by your life-saving crew here. 
But all universities cannot be placed beside a lake, where there is a chance for a 
crew. They are going to do the best they can with the nine and the eleven. 

Now, it is a great thing to have a safe and a strong and a vigorous mind. But 
best of all is to have that which is partly made up of both, and partly made up of 
something higher and better — character. That is what counts, and the main good 
that can be done to you after all in a university such as this, is to give you what I 
am certain universities do give— character — a iine and high type of citizenship. 
That is what we must strive to produce in our universities. Physical strength? Yes. 
Mental strength? Yes, even more than physical. But above all, let us strive to 
develop that for the lack of which- neither bodily prowess nor mental capacity can 
atone — the quality of the soul, of the heart, the qualities of strength, of courage, of 
sweetness, which we group together when we say that a man or woman has 
character. 

The formal welcome of the city of Chicago was extended 
to President Roosevelt by Mayor Harrison and a committee 



i6o THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

of professional and business men upon his return from Evans- 
ton. The Chief Executive of the nation and the Chief Magis- 
trate of Chicago left the car and, as soon as they reached the 
platform, walked arm-in-arm between the two lines of com- 
mitteemen to the street, where a carriage awaited them. The 
party then drove rapidly to the Auditorium Hotel. After 
luncheon President Roosevelt was conveyed to the home of 
Dr. William R. Harper, president of the University of Chi- 
cago. From Dr. Harper's residence, after being attired in cap 
and gown, the President marched to Kent Theater, accom- 
panied by representatives of all the colleges and affiliated 
schools of the university, where the degree of Doctor of Laws 
was conferred upon him; after which the procession moved to 
the site of the University of Chicago Law School Building, 
where he was to lay the corner stone. During the march, the 
line of which lay between two files of three thousand students, 
"Dr." Roosevelt was greeted with wild enthusiasm, and when 
the procession had reached the site of the law school, Presi- 
dent Roosevelt was handed a trowel, and after he had spread 
the cement on the foundation stone, and the corner stone had 
been lowered into position, he stepped to the center of the 
speaker's stand and spoke, substantially, as follows: 

ADDRESS AT THE tJNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO 

It is of vast import;ince to our well-being as a nation that there sliould be a foun- 
dation deep and broad of material well-being. No nation can amount to anything 
great unless the individuals composing it have so worked with the head or witli the 
hand for their own benefit, as well as for the benefit of their fellows, in material 
ways, that the sum of the national prosperity is great. 

But that alone does not make true greatness or anj^hing approaching true 
greatness. It is only the foundation for it, and it is the existence of institutions such 
as this, above all the existence of institutions turning out citizens of the type which I 
know you turn out, that stands as one of the really great assets of which a nation 
can speak when it claims true greatness. From this institution you will send out 




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THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIl' i6i 

scholars, and it is a great and fine tiling tn send out scholars to add to the sinii of 
productive schojarship. 

To do that is to take your part in doing one of the great duties of civilization ; 
but you will do more than that, for greater than the school is the man, and you will 
send forth men, men who will scorn what is base and ignoble, men of high ideals 
who yet have the robust sense necessary to allow for the achievement of the high 
ideal by practical methods. It was also a sage who said that it was easier to be a 
harmless dove than a wise serjjent. 

THE PRODUCTION OF CITIZENSHIP 

Now, the aim in production of citizenship must not lie merely the production 
of harmless citizenship. Of course it is essential that you should not harm your 
fellows, but if after you are through with life all that can be truthfully said of you 
is that you did not do any harm it must also be truthfully added that you did no 
particular good. 

Remember that the commandment had the two sides, to be harmless as doves 
and wise as serpents ; to be moral in the highest and broadest sense of the word ; 
to have the morality that does and fears, the morality that can suffer and the 
morality that can achieve results; to have that, and coupled with it to have the 
energy, the power to accomplish things which every good citizen must have if his 
citizenship is to be of real value to the community. Dr. Judson said in his address to- 
day that what we need — the things that we need are elemental. 

We need to produce, not genius, not brilliancy, but the homely, commonplace, 
elemental virtues. The reason we won in 1776, the reason that in the g^eat trial 
from 1S61 to 1S65 this nation rang true metal was because the average citizen had in 
him the stuff out of which good citizenship has been made from time immemorial, 
because he had in him courage, honesty, common sense. 

Brilliancy and genius? Yes, if we can have them in addition to the other 
virtues. If not, if brilliant genius comes without the accompaniment of the 
substantial qualities of character and soul, then it is a menace to the nation. 

If it comes in addition to those qualities, then, of course, we get the great general 
leader, we get the Lincoln, we get the man who can do more than any common 
man can. But without it much' can be done. The men who carried musket and 
saber in the armies of the East and the West through the four grim years which at 
last saw the sun of peace rise at Appomattox had only the ordinary qualities, but they 
were pretty good ordinary- qualities. 

They were the qualities which, when possessed as those men possessed them, 
made in their sum what we call heroism, and what those men had need to have in 
time of war we must have in time of peace, if we are to make this nation what she 



i62 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

shall ultimately become, if we are to make this natiou in verj- fact the great republic, 
the greatest power upon which the sun has ever shone. And no one quality is enough. 

"FIRST OF ALL HONESTY" 

First of all, honesty, and again remember I am using the word in its broadest 
signification, honesty, decency, clean living at home, clean living abroad, fair 
dealing in one's own family, fair dealing by the public. 

And honesty is not enough. If a man is never so honest, but is timid, there is 
nothing to be done with him. In the Civil War you needed patriotism in the soldier, 
but if the soldier had patriotism, yet felt compelled to run away, you could not wiu 
the fight with him. Together with honesty you must have the second of the virile 
virtues, courage; courage to dare, courage to stand against the wrong and to fight 
aggressively and vigorously for the right. 

And if you have only honesty and courage you may yet be an entirely worthless 
citizen. An honest and valiant fool has but a small place of usefulness in the body 
politic. With honesty, with courage, must go common sense; ability to work with 
your fellows, ability when you go out of the academic training, among those who 
will accept your leadership on just one consideration, and that is if you show 
yourself in the rough work of actual life fit and able to lead, and only so. 

You need honesty, you need courage and you need common sense. Above all, 
you need it in the work to be done in the building the corner stone of which we 
laid' to-day, the law school out of vrhich are to come the men who at the bar and on 
the bench make and construct, and in construing make the laws of this country', the 
men who must teach by their actions to all our people that this is in fact essentially 
a government of orderly liberty under the law. 

NO COUNTERFEIT SHOW OF HOMAGE 

The main feature of President Roosevelt's visit in Chicago 
was his celebrated speech on the Monroe Doctrine at the 
Auditorium, Thursday evening, April 2d. At 6:30 o'clock, a 
dinner was tendered the President in the banquet hall of the 
hotel, and in spite of the fact that it figured upon the day as 
a very informal affair, it was a most brilliant function. When, 
about two hours later, the familiar form of President Roose- 
velt appeared upon the stage of the Auditorium Theater 
there was a roar of welcome from the audience of six thou- 
sand persons that had assembled to hear him. It was no 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIT 163 

counterfeit show of homage. It seemed to bear the stamp of 
Western style — the open-hearted, frank and loj'al apprecia- 
tion of Americans for a typical American president. When 
the President began to speak, his listeners showed themselves 
heartily in sympathy with him from the start. Each utter- 
ance, emphatic and forcible, as he made all his strong sen- 
tences, brought its approval with vigorous applause. When 
he referred to the Monroe Doctrine in his opening sentences, 
the audience told him, by its cheers, that he had their appro- 
bation. When he said he knew the people by the Great 
Lakes believed in the Monroe Doctrine and thought it should 
be enforced, the crowd cheered again. P'rom this time on the 
sledge-hammer blows of his sentences, punctuated by the 
emphatic forefinger of his right hand, or the doubled fist as he 
shook it to emphasize his sharp utterances, were applauded 
until it seemed as though every sentence was receiving the 
approval of the crowd. The President spoke as follows: 

THE MONROE DOCTRINE 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: To-day I wish to speak to you, not 
merely about the Monroe Doctrine, but about our entire position in the Western 
Hemisphere — a position so peculiar and predominant that out of it has grown the 
acceptance of the Monroe Doctrine as a cardinal feature of our foreign policy; and in 
particular I wish to point out what has been done during the lifetime of the last 
Congress to make good our position in accordance with this historic policy. 

Ever since the time when we definitely extended our boundaries westward to 
the Pacific and southward to the Gulf, since the time when the old Spanish and 
Portuguese colonies to the south of us asserted their independence, our nation has 
insisted that because of its primacy in strength among the nations of the Western 
Hemisphere it has certain duties and responsibilities which oblige it to take a leading 
part thereon. We hold that our interests in this hemisphere are greater than those 
of any European power possibly can be, and that our duty to ourselves and to the 
weaker republics who are our neighbors requires us to see that none of the great 
military powers from across the seas shall encroach upon the territory of the 
American republics or acquire control thereover. 



i64 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

This policy, therefore, not only forbids us to acquiesce in such territorial acquisi- 
tion, but also causes us to object to the acquirement of a control whic'i would in its 
effect be equal to territorial aggrandizement. This is why the United States has 
steadily believed that the construction of the great isthmian canal, the building of 
which is to stand as the greatest material feat of the twentieth ceritury — greater 
than any similar feat in any preceding century — should be done by no foreign 
nation, but by ourselves. The canal must of necessity go through the territory of 
one of our smaller sister republics We have been scrupulously careful to abstain 
from perpetrating any wrong upon any of these republics in this matter. We do not 
wish to interfere with their rights in the least, but while carefully safeguarding them, 
to build the canal ourselves under provisions which will enable us, if necessary, to 
police and protect it, and to guarantee its neutrality, we being the sole guarantor. 
Our intention was steadfast; we desired action taken so that the canal could 
always be used by us in time of peace and war alike, and in time of war could never 
be used to our detriment by any nation which was hostile to us. Such action, by 
the circumstances surrounding it, was necessarily for the benefit and not to the 
detriment of the adjacent American republics. 

MEMORABLE TRIUMPH OF AMERICAN DIPLOMACY 

After considerably more than half of a century these objects have been exactly 
fulfilled by the legislation and treaties of the last two years. Two years ago we 
were no further advanced toward the construction of the isthmian canal on our 
terms than we had been during the preceding eighty years. By the Hay-Pauncefote 
treaty, ratified in December, 1901, an old treaty with Great Britain, which had 
been held to stand in the way, was abrogated and it was agreed that the canal 
should be constructed under the auspices of the Government of the United States, 
and that this Government should have the exclusive right to regulate and manage 
it, becoming the sole guarantor of its neutrality. 

It was expressly stipulated, furthermore, that this guaranty of neutrality 
should not prevent the United States from taking any measures which it found 
necessary in order to secure by its own forces the defense of the United States and 
the maintenance of public order. Immediately following this treaty Congress 
passed a law under which the President was authorized to endeavor to secure a 
treaty for acquiring the right to finish the construction of, and to operate, the 
Panama Canal, which had already been begun in the territory of Colombia by a 
French company. The rights of this company were accordingly obtained and a treaty 
negotiated with the Republic of Colombia. This treaty has just been ratified by 
the Senate. It reserves all of Colombia's rights, while guaranteeing all of our own 
and those of neutral nations, and specifically pc runts us to take any and all 



THE PRESIDKNI STARTS ON HIS LRU' ,65 

ineaKures for the defense of the canal, and for the preservation of our interests, 
whenever in our judgment an exigency may arise which calls for action on our 
part. In other words, these two treaties, and the legislation to carry them out, 
have resulted in our obtaining on exactly the terms we desired the rights and 
privileges which we had so long sought in vain. These treaties are among the 
most important that we have ever negotiated in their effects upon the future 
welfare of this countrj% and mark a memorable triumph of American diplomacy- 
one of tho.se fortunate triumphs, moreover, which redound to the benefit of the 
entire world. 

About the same time trouble arose in connection with the Republic of Venezuela 
because of certain wrongs alleged to have been committed, and debts overdue, by 
this republic to citizens of various foreign powers, notably England, Germany, and 
Italy. After failure to reach an agreement, these powers began a blockade of the 
Venezuelan coast and a condition of quasi-war epsued. The concern of our 
government was of course not to interfere needlessly in any quarrel so far as it did 
not touch our interests or our honor, and not to take the attitude of protecting 
from coercion any power unless we were willing to espouse the quarrel of that 
power, but to keep an attitude of watchful vigilance and see that there was no 
infringement of the Monroe Doctrine— no acquirement of territorial rights by a 
European power at the expense of a weak sister republic— whether this acquisition 
might take the shape of an outright and avowed seizure of territory- or of the exercise 
of control which would in effect be equivalent to such seizure. This attitude was 
expressed in the two following published memoranda, the first being the letter 
addressed by the Secretary of State to the German Ambassador, the second the 
conversation with the Secretary of State reported by the British Ambassador: 

LETTER TO THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR 

Department of State, 
Washington, December 16, igoi. 
His Excellency, Dr. von Holleben, etc. : 

Dear Excellency : I enclose a memorandum by way of reply to that which you 
did me the honor to leave with me on Saturday, and am, aj ever. 

Faithfully yours, John Hay.. 

THE MEMORANDUM 

The President, in his message of the 3d of December, 1901, used the following 
language . 

"The Monroe Doctrine is a declaration that there must be no territorial aggran- 
dizement by any non-American power at the expense of any American power on 
American soil. It is in no wise intended as hostile to auv nation in the Old World." 



i66 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

'I'he President further said: 

"This doctrine has nothing to do with the commercial relations of any American 

;)ower, save that it in truth allows each of them to form such as it desires We 

(1(1 not guarantee any state against punishment if it misconducts itself, provided 
that punishment does not take the form of the acquisition of territory by any non- 
American power." 

His Excellency, the German Ambassador, on his recent return from Berlin, 
conveyed personally to the President the assurance of the German Emperor that His 
Majesty's government had no purpose or intention to make even the smallest 
acquisition of territory on the South American continent or the lands adjacent. 
This voluntary and friendly declaration was afterwards repeated to the Secretary 
of State, and was received by the President and the people of the United States in 
the frank and cordial spirit in which it was offered. In the memorandum of the 
nth of December, His Excellency, the German Ambassador, repeats these 
asssurances as follows : 

"We declare especially that under no circumstances do we consider in our 
proceedings the acquisition or the permanent occupation of Venezuelan territory," 

In the said memorandum of the nth of December the German government 
informs that of the United States that it has certain just claims for money and for 
damages wrongfully withheld from German subjects by the government of 
Venezuela, and that it proposes to take certain coercive measures described in the 
memorandum to enforce the payment of these just claims. 

The President of the United States, appreciating the courtesy of the German 
government in making him acquainted with the state of aflfairs referred to, and 
not regarding him.self as called upon to enter into the consideration of the claims 
in question, believes that no measures will be taken in this matter by the agents of 
the German government which are not in accordance with the well-known purpose, 
above set forth, of his Majesty the German Emperor. 

SIR MICHAEL HERBERT TO THE MARQUIS OF LANSDOWNE 

"Washington, November 13, 1902. 

"I communicated to Mr. Hay this morning the substance of Your Lordship's 
telegram of the nth instant. 

"His Excellency stated in reply, that the United States government, although 
they regretted that European powers should use force against Central and South 
American countries, could not object to their taking steps to obtain redress for 
injuries suffered by their subjects, provided that no acquisition of territory was 
contemplated." 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS UN HIS TRIP 167 

Both powers assured us in explicit terms that there was not the slightest 
intention on their part to violate the principles of the Monroe Doctrine, and this 
assurance was kept with an honorable good faith which merits full acknowledgment 
on our part. At the same time, the existence of hostilities in a region so near our 
own borders was fraught with such possibilities of danger in the future that it was 
obviously no less our duty to ourselves than our duty to humanity to endeavor Ui 
put an end to that. Accordingly, by an offer of our good services in a spirit of 
frank friendliness to all the parties concerned, a spirit in which they quickly and 
cordially responded, we secured a resumption of peace — the contending parties 
agreeing that the matters which they could not settle among themselves should be 
referred to The Hague Tribunal for settlement. The United States had most 
fortunately already been able to set an example to other nations by utilizing the 
great possibilities for good contained in The Hague Tribunal, a question at issue 
between ourselves and the Republic of Mexico being the first submitted to this 
international court of arbitration. 

The terms which we have secured as those under which the isthmian canal is to 
be built, and the course of events in the Venezuela matter, have shown not merely 
the ever-growing influence of the United States in the Western Hemisphere, but 
also, I think I may safely say, have exemplified the firm purpose of the United 
States that its growth and influence and power shall redound not to the harm but 
to the benefit of our sister republics whose strength is less. Our growth, therefore, 
is beneficial to human kind in general. We do not intend to assume any position 
which can give just offense to our neighbors. Our adherence to the rule of 
human right is not merely profession. The history of our dealings with Cuba 
shows that we reduce it to performance. 

" SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK " 

The Monroe Doctrine is not international law, and though I think one day it 
may become such, this is not necessary as long as it remains a cardinal feature of 
our foreign policy and as long as we possess both the will and the strength to make 
it effective. This last point, my fellow-citizens, is all-important, and is one which 
as a people we can never aflford to forget. I believe in the Monroe Doctrine with 
all my heart and soul; I am convinced that the immense majority of our fellow- 
countrymen so believe in it ; but I would infinitely prefer to see us abandon it than 
CO see us put it forward and bluster about it, and yet fail to build up the eSicient 
fighting strength which m the last resort can alone make it respected by any 
strong foreign power whose interest it may ever happen to be to violate it. 

Boasting and blustering are as objectionable among nations as among 
individuals, and the public men of a great nation owe it to their sense of national 



i68 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

self-respect to speak courteously of foreign powers, just as a brave and self- 
respecting man treats all around him courteously. But though to boast is bad, and 
causelessly to insult another, worse; yet worse than all is it to be guilty of 
boasting, even without insult, and when called to the proof to be unable to make 
such boasting good. There is a homely old adage which runs; "Speak softly 
and carry a big stick; you will go far." If the American nation will speak softly, 
and yet build, and keep at a pitch of the highest training, a thoroughly efficient 
navy, the Monroe Doctrine will go far. I ask you to think over this. If you do, 
you will come to the conclusion that it is mere plain common sense, so obviously 
sound that only the blind can fail to see its truth and only the weakest and most 
irresolute can fail to desire to put it into force. 

THE REAL EFFICIENCY OF A NAVY 

In the last two years, I am happy to saj-, we have taken'long strides in advance 
as regards our navy. The last Congress, in addition to smaller vessels, provided 
nine of those formidable fighting ships upon which the real efficiency of any navy 
in war ultimately depends. It provided, moreover, for the necessary addition of 
officers and enlisted men to make the ships worth having. Meanwhile the Navy 
Department has seen to it that our ships have been constantly exercised at sea, with 
the great guns, and in maneuvers, so that their efficiency as fighting units, both 
individually and when acting together, has been steadily improved. Remember 
that all of this is necessary. A warship is a huge bit of mechanism, well-nigh as 
delicate and complicated as it is formidable. It takes years to build it. It takes 
years to teach the officers and men how to handle it to good advantage. It is an 
absolute impossibility to improvise a navy at the outset of war. No recent war 
between any two nations has la.sted as long as it takes to build a battleship; and it 
is just as impossible to improvise the officers or the crews as to improvise the navy. 

To lay up a battleship and only send it afloat at the outset of a war, with a 
niw crew and untried officers, would be not merely a folly but a crime, for it would 
invite both disaster and disgrace. The navy which so quickly decided in our favor 
the war in 1S9S had been built and made efficient during the preceding fifteen 
years. The ships that triumphed off Manila and Santiago had been built under 
previous administrations with money appropriated by Congresses. The officers 
and the men did their duty so well because they had already been trained to it by 
long sea service. All honor to the gallant officers and gallant men who actually did 
the fighting ; but remember, too, to honor the public men, the shipwrights and steel- 
workers, the owners of the shipyards and armor plants, to whose united foresight 
and e.xertion we owe it that in i8gS we had craft so good, guns so excellent, and 
American seamen of so high a type in the conning towers, in the gun turrets, and in 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 169 

the engine rooms. It is too late to prepare for war when war has come; and if we 
only prepare sufficiently no war will ever come. We wish a powerful and efficient 
navy, not for purposes of war. but as the surest guaranty of peace. If we have 
such a navy— if we keep on building it up— we may rest assured that there is but " 
the smallest chance that trouble will ever come to this nation ; and we may likewise 
rest assured that no foreign power will ever quarrel with us about the Monroe 
Doctrine. 

THE ARRIVAL AT MADISON 

At midnight the President left for Madison, Wis., where he 
arrived at four o'clock the following morning. He remained 
on the train resting until nine o'clock, when he was met by a 
party of State, legislative and city officials, headed by Gov- 
ernor La Follette, and escorted to the Capitol. Here, in the 
Assembly Hall, he addressed the Legislature in joint session, 
and several hundred guests invited by card. The President 
then made his second speech to a large crowd, not able for 
lack of room to gain admittance into the building, from a 
stand erected at the east entrance. In his address he said he 
was glad to come to Wisconsin, because of the fact that there 
the people had put into practice to a peculiar degree the 
principle of "All men up, rather than some men down." He 
continued: 

We are passing through a period of great material prosperity. There will be 
ups and downs in that prosperity, but, in the long run, the tide will go on, if we but 
prove true to ourselves and to the beliefs of our forefathers. To win we must be 
able to combine in a proper degree the spirit of individualism and the spirit of coop- 
eration. Each man must work for himself. If he cannot support himself he will 
be but a drag on all mankind, but each man must work for common good. There 
is not a man here who does not at times need to have a helping hand extended to 
him, and shame on the brother who will not e.xtend that helping hand. 

At the conclusion of his second speech the President was 
escorted to the executive office, where for several minutes he 
held a reception for members of the Legislature and their 
wives. The reception concluded, he returned to the special 



170 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

train which left for Milwaukee at eleven o'clock, arriving at 
Waukesha at 12:30 p. m., where several thousand people gave 
him greeting. President Roosevelt spoke as follows: 

THE PRESIDENT'S WAUKESHA SPEECH 

Gentlemen and Ladies, my Fellow-citizens of Wisconsin: You are men and 
women of Wisconsin, but you are men and women of America first. I am glad of 
having the chance of saying a few words to you to-day. I believe with all my heart 
in this nation playing its part manfully and well. I believe that we are now, at the 
outset of the twentieth century, face to face with great world problems ; that we 
cannot help playing the part of a great world power; that all we can decide is 
whether we will play it well or ill. I do not want to see us shrink from any least bit 
of duty. We have not only taken during the past five years a position of even 
greater importance in this Western Hemisphere than ever before, but we have taken 
a position of great importance even in the furthest Orient, in that furthest West 
which is the immemorial East. We must hold our own. If we show our.selves 
weaklings we will earn the contempt of mankind, and — what is of far more 
consequence — our own contempt ; but I would like to impress upon every public 
man, upon every writer in the press, the fact that strength should go hand in 
hand with courtesy, with scrupulous regard in word and deed, not only for the rights, 
but for the feelings of other nations. I want to see a man able to hold his own. I 
have no respect for the man that will put up with injustice. If a man will not take 
his part, the part is not worth taking. That is true. On the other hand I have a 
hearty contempt for the man who is always walking about waiting to pick a 
quarrel, and above all, wanting to say something unpleasant about some one else. 
He is not an agreeable character anywhere ; and the fact that he talks loud does 
not necessarily mean that he fights hard either. Sometimes you will see a man 
who will talk loud and fight hard; but he does not fight hard because he talks loud, 
but in spite of it. I want the same thing to be true of us as a nation. I am always 
sorry whenever I see any reflection that seems to come upon any friendly nation. 
To write or to say anything unkind, unjust, or inconsiderate about any foreign 
nation does not do us any good, and does not help us toward holding our own if 
ever the need should arise to hold our own. I am sure that you will not mis- 
understand me; I am sure that it is needless forme to say that I do not believe 
the United States should ever suffer a wrong. I should be the first to ask that we 
resent a wrong from the strong, just as I should be the first to insist that we do not 
wrong the weak. As a nation, if we are to be true to our past, we must steadfastly 
keep these two positions — to submit to no injury by the strong and to inflict no 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 171 

injury on the weak. It is not at all necessary to say disagreeable things about the 
strong in order to impress them with the fact that we do not intend to submit to 
injury. Keep our navy up to the highest degree of efficiency; have good ships, and 
enough of them ; have the officers and the enlisted men on them trained to handle 
ihem, so that in the future the American navy shall rise level, whenever the need 
comes, to the standard it has set in the past. Keep in our hearts the rugged, manly 
virtues, which have made our people formidable as foes and valuable as friends 
throughout the century and a quarter of our national life. Do all that; and having 
done it, remember that it is a sensible thing to speak courteously of others. 

"WE WANT THE FRIENDSHIP OF MANKIND" 

I believe in the Monroe Doctrine. I shall try to see that this nation lives up 
to it ; and as long as I am President it will be lived up to. But I do not intend to 
make the doctrine an excuse or a justification for being unpleasant to other powers, 
for speaking ill of other powers. We want the friendship of mankind. We want 
to get on well with the other nations of mankind, with the small nations and with the 
big nations. We want so to carrj' ourselves that if (which I think most unlikely) any 
quarrel should arise, it would be e\ndent that it was not a quarrel of our own seeking, 
but one that was forced on us. If it is forced on us, I know you too well not to 
know that you will stand up to it if the need comes; but you will stand up to it all 
the better if you have not blustered or spoken ill of other nations in advance. We 
want friendship; we want peace. We wish well to the nations of mankind. We 
look %vith joy at any prosperity of theirs, we wish them success, not failure. 
We rejoice as mankind moves forward over the whole earth. Each nation has its 
own difficulties. We have difficulties enough at home. Let us improve ourselves, 
lifting what needs to be lifted here, ard let others do their own ; let us attend to our 
own, keep our own hearthstone swept and in order. Do not shirk any duty; do not 
shirk any difficulty that is forced upon us, but do not invite it by foolish language. 
Do not assume a quarrelsome and unpleasant attitude towards other people. 
Let the friendly expression of foreign powers be accepted as tokens of their 
sincere good-will, and reflecting their real sentiments , and let us avoid any language 
on our part which might tend to turn their good-will into ill-will. All that is mere 
common sense; the kind of common sense that we apply in our own lives, man 
to man, neighbor to neighbor; and remember that substantially what is true 
among nations, is true on a small scale among ourselves. The man who is a 
weakling, who is a coward, we all despise, and we ought to despise him. If a man 
cannot do his own work and take his own part, he does not count ; and I have no 
patience with those who would have the United States unable to take its own part, 
to do its work in the world. But remember that a loose tongue is just as unfortunate 



172 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

an accompaniment fm- a nation as for an individual. The man who talks ill of his 
neighbors, the man who invites trouble for himself and them, is a nuisance. The 
stronger, the more self-confident the nation is, the more carefully it should guard 
its speech as well as its action, and should make it a point, in the interest of its 
own self-respect, to see that it does not say what it cannot make good, that it 
avoids giving needless oflfense, that it shows genuinely and sincerely its desire for 
friendship with the rest of mankind, but that it keeps itself in shape to make its 
weight felt should the need arise. 

That is in substance my theory of what our foreign policy should be. Let us 
not boast, not insult any one, but make up our minds coolly what it is necessary to 
say, say it, and then stand to it, whatever the consequences may be. 

ARRIVAL AT MILWAUKEE 

The President's special arrived at Milwaukee at 2 p. m., 
where a reception committee, headed by Mayor Uavid S. Rose, 
greeted the Chief Executive. Carriages were taken and a 
drive to the Soldiers' Home followed, where two thousand 
veterans were reviewed by the President, who afterwards 
addressed them briefly. On his return to the city, ten thou- 
sand people greeted Mr. Roosevelt in the Exposition Build- 
ing; a chorus of six hundred voices sang national airs and, 
after Mayor Rose had given an address of welcome, the Presi- 
dent made a short speech, in the course of which he said, 
calling attention to the many nationalities present: 

Woe will beset this country if we draw lines of distinction between class and 
class, and free and free, or along any other lines save those which divide good 
citizenship from bad citizenship. 

Following these exercises, the presidential party was 
tendered a reception by the Deutscher Club. In response to 
the toast by the president, Mr. Roosevelt said he would 
endeavor during his administration to preserve peace at home 
and abroad. At the Milwaukee Press Club the President was 
given a certificate of honorary membership; he also inscribed 
his name with chalk on one of the panels of the wainscoting, 



THE PKESlDEiNT STARTS (,JN IIIS TRIP ,73 

where appeared the names of many nuteil men. The same 
evening a dinner was given in liis honor by the Merchants and 
Manufacturers Association, in the Plankinton House, where 
he delivered his celebrated address on "Trusts." It follows: 

THE CONTROL AND REGULATION OF TRUSTS 

Mr. Toastmaster, Gentlemen: To-day I wish to speak to you on the question of 
the control and regulation of those great corporations which are popularly, although 
rather vaguely, known as trusts; dealing mo,stly with Avhat has actually been 
accomplished in the way of legislation and in the way of enforcement of legislation 
during the past eighteen months, the period covering the two sessions of the Fiftv- 
seventh Congress. At the outset I shall ask you to remember that I do not 
approach the subject either from the standpoint of those who speak of themselves 
as anti-trust or anti-corporation people, nor yet from the standpoint of those who 
are fond of denying the existence of evils in the trusts, or who apparently 
proceed upon the assumption that if a corporation is large enough it can do no 
wrong. 

I think I speak for the great majority of the American people when I say that 
we are not in the least against wealth as such, whether individual or corporate ; that 
we merely desire to see any abuse of corporate or combined wealth corrected and 
remedied; that we do not desire the abolition or destruction of big corporations, but, 
on the contrary, recognize them as being in many cases efficient economic 
instruments, the result of an inevitable process of economic evolution, and only 
desire to see them regulated and controlled so far as may be necessary to subserve 
the public good. We should be false to the historic principles of our government if 
we discriminated, either by legislation or administration, either for or against a man 
because of either his wealth or his poverty. There is no proper place in our society 
either for the rich man who uses the power conferred by his riches to enable him to 
oppress and wrong his neighbors, nor yet for the demagogic agitator who, instead 
of attacking abuses as all abuses should be attacked wherever found, attacks 
property, attacks prosperity, attacks men of wealth, as such, whether Ihey be good 
or bad, attacks corporations whether they do well or ill, and seeks, in a spirit of 
ignorant rancor, to overthrow the very foundations upon which rest our national 
well-being. 

In consequence of the extraordinary industrial changes of the la.st half-centur\-, 
and notably of the last two or three decades, changes due mainly to the rapidity 
and complexity of our industrial growth, we are confronted with problems which in 
their present shape were unknown to our forefathers. Our great prosperity, witli 



174 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

its accompanying concentration of population and of wealth, its extreme specialization 
of faculties, and its development of giant industrial leaders, has brought much good 
and some evil, and it is as foolish to ignore the good as willfully to blind ourselves to 
the evil. 

The evil has been partly the inevitable accompaniment of the social changes, 
and where this is the case it can be cured neither by law nor by the administration 
of the law, the only remedy lying in the slow change of character and of economic 
environment. But for a portion of the evil, at least, we think that remedies can be 
found. We know well the danger of false remedies, and we are against all violent, 
radical and unwise change. But we believe that by proceeding slowly, yet 
resolutely, with good sense and moderation, and also with a firm determination not 
to be swerved from our course either by foolish clamor or by any base or sinister 
influence, we can accomplish much for the betterment of conditions. Nearly two 
years ago, speaking at the State Fair in Minnesota, I said; 

"WE GO UP OR DOWN TOGETHER" 

"It is probably true that the large majority of the fortunes that now e,xist in this 
country have been amassed, not by injuring our people, but as an incident to the 
conferring of great benefits upon the community, and this, no matter what may 
have been the conscious purpose of those amassing them. There is but the scantiest 
justification for most of the outcry against the men of wealth as such: and it ought 
to be unnecessary to state that any appeal which directly or indirectly leads to 
suspicion and hatred among ourselves, which tends to limit opportunity, and there- 
fore to shut the door of success against poor men of talent, and, finally, which entails 
the possibility of lawlessness and violence, is an attack upon the fundamental 
principles of American citizenship. Our interests are at bottom common; in the 
long run we go up or down together. Yet more and more it is evident that the 
State, and if necessary the Nation, has got to possess the right of super\-ision and 
control as regards the great corporations which are its creatures ; particularly as 
regards the great business combinations which derive a portion of their importance 
from the existence of some monopolistic tendency. The right should be exercised 
with caution and self-restraint; but it should exist, so that it may be invoked if the 
need arises. " 

Last fall, in speaking at Cincinnati, I said: 

"The necessary supervision and control, in which I firmly believe as the only 
method of eliminating the real evils of the trusts, must come through wisely and 
cautiously framed legislation, which shall aim in the first place to give definite 
control to some sovereign over the great corporations, and which shall be followed, 
when once this power has been conferred, by a system giving to the government 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 175 

the full knowledge which is the essential for satisfactory action. Tlien, when this 
knowledge — one of the essential features of which is proper publicity — has been 
gained, what further steps of any kind are necessary can be taken with the con- 
fidence bom of the possession of power, and we need knowledge Such 

legislation — whether obtainable only after a constitutional amendment — should 
provide for a reasonable supervision, the most prominent feature of which at first 
should be publicity — that is, the making public, both to the Government authorities 
and to the people at large, the essential facts in which the public is concerned. 
This would give us exact knowledge of many points which are now not only in 
doubt but the subject of fierce controversy. Moreover, the mere fact of the 
publication would cure some very grave evils, for the light of day is a detriment to 
■wTong-doing. It would doubtless disclose other evils with which, for the time being, 
we could devise no way to gfrapple. Finally, it would disclose others which could 
be grappled with and cured by further legislative action," 

THE PROPER SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM 

In m}' message to Congress for igoi I said: 

"In the interest of the whole people the Nation should, without interfering with 
the power of the States in the matter, itself also assume power of super\'ision and 
regulation over all corporations doing an interstate business," 

The views thus expressed have now received effect by the wise, conservative, 
and yet far-reaching legislation enacted by Congress at its last session. In its 
wisdom Congjress enacted the very important law providing a Department of 
Commerce and Labor, and further providing therein under the Secretary of 
Commerce and Labor for a Commissioner of Corporations, charged with the duty 
of supervision of, and of making intelligent investigation into, the organization and 
conduct of corporations engaged in interstate commerce. His powers to expose 
illegal or hurtful practices and to obtain all information needful for the purpose of 
further intelligent legislation seem adequate; and the publicity justifiable and 
proper for public purposes is satisfactorily guaranteed. The law was passed at the 
very end of the session of Congress. Owing to the lateness of its passage 
Congress was not able to provide proper equipment for the new Department ; and 
the first few months must necessarily be spent in the work of organization, and 
the first investigation must necessarily be of a tentative character. The satisfactory- 
development of such a system requires time and great labor. Those who are 
intrusted with the administration of the new law will assuredly administer it 
in a spirit of absolute fairness and justice and of entire fearlessness, with the firm 
purpose not to hurt any corporation which may be guilty of illegal practices, or 
the methods of which may make it a menace to the public welfare. Some 



176 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

substantial good will be done in the immediate future ; and as the Department 
gets fairly to work under the law an ever larger vista for good work will be opened 
along the lines indicated. The enactment of this law is one of the most significant 
contributions which have been made in our time toward the proper solution of the 
problem of the relations to the people of the great corporate combinations. 

But much though this is, it is only a part of what has been done in the efifort 
to ascertain and correct improper trust or monopolistic practices. Some eighteen 
months ago the Industrial Commission, an able and non-partisan body, reported 
to Congfress the result of their investigations. One of the most important of their 
conclusions was that discriminations in freight rates and facilities were granted 
favored shippers by the railroads and that these discriminations clearly tended 
toward the control of production and prices in many fields of business by large 
combinations. 

UNLAWTXTL AGREEMENTS ENTERED INTO 

That this conclusion was justifiable was shown by the disclosures in the 
investigation of railroad methods pursued in the fall and winter of igoi-1902. It 
v,-as then shown that certain trunk lines had entered into unlawful agreements as to 
the transportation of food products from the West to the Atlantic seaboard, giving 
a few favored shippers rates much below the tariflf charges imposed upon the 
smaller dealers and the general public. These unjust practices had prevailed to 
such an extent and for so long a time that many of the smaller shippers had been 
driven out of business, until practically one buyer of grain on each railway system 
had been able by his illegal advantages to secure a monopoly on the line with 
which his secret compact was made ; this monopoly enabling him to fix the price 
to both producer and consumer. Many of the great packing-house concerns 
were shown to be in combination with each other and with most of the great 
railway lines, whereby they enjoyed large secret concessions in rates and thus 
obtained a practical monopoly of the fresh and cured-meat industry of the country'. 
These fusions, though violative of the statute, had prevailed unchecked for so 
many years that they had become intrenched in and interwoven with the commercial 
life of certain large distributing localities, although this was of course at the 
expense of the vast body of law-abiding merchants, the general public, and 
particularly of unfavored localities. 

THE WISE COURSE TO FOLLOW 

Under those circumstances it was a serious problem to determine the wise 
course to follow in vitalizing a law which had in part 'become obsolete or proved 
incapable of enforcement. Of what the Attornej' -General did in enforcing it I 
shall speak later. The decisions of the courts upon the law had betrayed 




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THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 177 

weaknesses and imperfections, some of them so serious ;is to rendci' abortive 
efforts to apply any effective remedy for the existing evils. 

It is clear that corporations created for quasi-public purposes, clothed for 
that reason with the ultimate power of the State to take private property against 
the will of the owner, hold their corpor.-ite powers as carriers in trust for the fairly 
impartial service of all the public. Favoritism in the use of such powers, unjustly 
enriching some and unjustly impoverishing others, discriminating in favor of some 
places and against others, is palpably violative of plain principles of justice. Such 
a practice unchecked is hurtful in many ways. Congress, having had its attention 
drawn to the matter, enacted a most important anti-rebate law, which greatly 
strengthens the interstate-commerce law. This new law prohibits under adequate 
penalties the gi%'ing and as well the demanding or receiving of such preferences, 
and provides the preventive remedy of injunction. The vigorous administration of 
this law — and it will be enforced — will, it is hoped, afford a substantial remedy for 
certain trust evils which have attracted public attention and have created public 
unrest. 

THE MERGER DECISION 

This law represents a noteworthy and important advance toward just and 
effective regulation of transportation. Moreover, its passage has been supplemented 
by the enactment of a law to expedite the hearing of actions of public moment 
under the anti-b'ust act, known as the Sherman law, and under the act to regulate 
commerce, at the request of the Attorney-General ; and furthermore, additional 
funds have been appointed to be expended under the direction of the Attorney- 
General in the enforcement of these laws. 

All of this represents a great and substantial advance in legislation. But more 
important even than legislation is the administration of the law, and I ask your 
attention for a moment to the waj' in which the law has been administered by the 
profound jurist and fearless public servant who now occupies the position of 
Attorney-General, Mr. Knox. The constitution enjoins upon the president that he 
shall tal^ care that the laws be faithfully executed, and under this provision the 
Attorney-General formulated a policy which was, in effect, nothing but the rigid 
enforcement, by suits managed with consummate skill and ability, both of the anti- 
trust law and of the imperfect provisions of the act to regulate commerce. The first 
step taken was the prosecution of fourteen suits against the principal railroads of the 
Middle West, restraining them by injunction from further violations of either of the 
laws in question. 

About the same time the case against the Northern Securities Company was 
initiated. This was a corporation organized under the laws of the State of New 
Jerse)-, with a capital of four hundred million dollars, the alleged purpose being to 



178 THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

control the Great Northern and the Northern Pacific railroad companies, two paral- 
lel and competing lines extending across the northern tier of States from the Mis- 
sissippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Whatever the purpose, its consummation would 
have resulted in the control of the two great railway systems upon which the people 
of the Northwestern States were so largely dependent for their supplies and to get 
their products to market, being practically merged into the New Jersey corporation. 
The proposition that these independent systems of railroads should be merged 
under a single control alarmed the people of the States concerned, lest they be 
subjected to what they deemed a monopoly of interstate transportation and the 
suppression of competition. The governors of the States most deeply afifected held 
a meeting to consider how to prevent the merger becoming effective, and passed 
resolutions calling upon the national government to enforce the anti-trust laws 
against the alleged combination. When these resolutions were referred to the 
Attorney-General for consideration and advice, he reported that in his opinion the 
Northern Securities Company and its control of the railroads mentioned was a com- 
bination in restraint of trade and was attempting a monopoly in violation of the 
national anti-trust law. Thereupon a suit in equity, which is now pending, was 
begun by the government to test the validity of this transaction under the Sherman 
law. 

AN OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION 

At nearly the same time the disclosures respecting the secret rebates enjoyed 
by the great packing-house companies, coupled with the very high price of meats, 
led the Attorney-General to direct an investigation into the methods of the so-called 
beef trust. The result was that he filed bills for injunction against six of the prin- 
cipal packing-house companies, and restrained them from combining and agreeing 
upon prices at which they would sell their products in States other than those in 
which their meats were prepared for the market. Writs of injunction were issued 
accordingly, and since then, after full argument, the United States Court has made 
the injunction perpetual. 

The cotton interests of the South, including growers, buyers, and shippers, made 
complaint that they were suffering great injury in their business from the methods 
of the Southern railroads in the handling and transportation of cotton. They 
alleged that these railroads, by combined action under a pooling arrangement to sup- 
port their rate schedules, had denied to the shippers the right to elect over what roads 
their commodities should be shipped, and that by dividing upon a fixed basis the 
cotton crop of the South, all inducement to compete in rates for the transportation 
thereof was eliminated. Proceedings were instituted by the Attorney-General under 
the anti-trust law, which resulted in the destruction of the pool and in restoring to 



THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 179 

the growers and shippers of the South the right to ship their products over any road 
they elected, thus removing the restraint upon the freedom of commerce. 

In November, 1902, the Attorney-General directed that a bill for an injunction 
be tiled in the United States Circuit Court at San Francisco against the Federal 
Salt Company— a corporation which had organized under the laws of an Eastern 
State, but had its main office and principal place of business in California — and 
against a number of other companies and persons constituting what was known a.s 
the salt trust. These injunctions were to restrain the execution of certain contracts 
between the Federal Salt Company and the other defendants, by which the latter 
agreed neither to import nor to buy or sell salt, except from and to the Federal Salt 
Company, and not to engage or assist in the production of .salt west of the Missis- 
sippi River during the continuance of such contracts. As the result of these agree- 
ments the price of salt had been advanced about four hundred per cent. A tem- 
porary injunction order was obtained, which the defendants asked the court to 
modify on the ground that the anti-trust law had no application to contracts for 
purchases and sales within a State. The Circuit Court overruled this contention 
and sustained the government's position. This practically concluded the case, and 
it is understood that in consequence the Federal Salt Company is about to be dis- 
solved and that no further contest will be made. 

A SUM OF SUBSTANTIAL ACHIEVEMENT 

The above is a brief outline of the most important steps, legislative and admin- 
istrative, taken during the past eighteen months in the direction of solving, so far as 
at present it seems practicable by national legislation or administration to solve, 
what we call the trust problem. They represent a sum of very substantial achieve- 
ment. They represent a successful effort to devise and apply real remedies; an 
effort which so far succeeded because it was made not only with resolute purpose 
and determination, but also in a spirit of common sense and justice, as far removed 
as possible from rancor, hysteria, and unworthy demagogic appeal. In the same 
spirit the laws will continue to be enforced. Not only is the legislation recently 
enacted effective, but in my judgment it was impracticable to attempt more. Noth- 
ing of value is to be expected from ceaseless agitation for radical and extreme legis- 
lation. The people may wisely, and with confidence, await the results which are 
reasonably to be expected from the impartial enforcement of the laws which have 
recently been placed upon the statute books. Legislation of a general and indis- 
criminate character would be sure to fail, either because it would involve all interests 
in a common ruin, or because it would not really reach any evil. We have endeav- 
ored to provide a discriminating adaptation of the remedy to the real mischief. 

Many of the alleged remedies advocated are of the unpleasantly drastic type 



i8o THE PRESIDENT STARTS ON HIS TRIP 

which seeks to destroy the disease by killing the patient. Others are so obviouslj' 
futile that it is somewhat difficult to treat them seriously or as being advanced in 
good faith. High among the latter I place the efifort to reach the trust question by 
means of the tariflf. You can, of course, put an end to the prosperity of the nation ; 
but the price for such action seems high. The alternative is to do exactly what has 
been done during the life of the Congress which has just closed — that is, to endeavor, 
not to destroy corporations, but to regulate them with a view of doing away with 
whatever is of evil in them and of making them subserve the public use. The law 
is not to be administered in the interest of the poor man as such, nor yet in the inter- 
est of the rich man as such, but in the interest of the law-abiding man, rich or poor. 
We are no more against organizations of capital than against organizations of labor. 
We welcome both, demanding only that each shall do right and shall remember its 
duty to the Republic. Such a course we consider not merely a benefit to the poor 
man. but a benefit to the rich man. We do no man an injustice when we require 
him to obey the law. On the contrary, if he is a man whose safety and well-being 
depend in a peculiar degree upon the existence of the spirit of law and order, we arc 
rendering him the greatest service when we require him to be himself an exemplar 
of that spirit. 



CHAPTER XIV 

WESTWARD HO! 

Enthusiastic Crowds at Every Stopping Place — In Minneapolis and St. Paul 
—The Wage-Worker and the Tiller of the Soil— Through the Dakotas 
— The Philippine Policy — Yellowstone Park — The President in 
Nebraska — Across the State of Iowa. 

The President reached St. Paul after a busy day traveling 
through Wisconsin and Minnesota, where he was greeted by 
enthusiastic throngs at every stopping place. As the presi- 
dential train pulled through the yards at the union depot, Hat- 
tery A of the Minnesota National Guard, stationed on the 
opposite side of the river, fired the presidential salute, in which 
the engines in the yards and the strong lungs of the immense 
crowd joined. The committee, headed by Governor Van 
Sant, briefly welcomed the party, who were at once taken for 
a carriage drive through the down-town streets. At the capi- 
tol, the house and senate, in joint session, received the Presi- 
dent with cheers. Previous to his arrival, Archbishop Ireland 
had delivered a brief and eloquent prayer for the prosperity 
of the nation and its chief executive, and as soon as the legis- 
lators were seated, after greeting President Roosevelt, the 
latter spoke at some length on "Good Citizenship." 

RACE SUICIDE 

A large platform had been erected at the east entrance of 
the capitol, where a crowd of many thousands awaited the 
President, who delivered a second address, following the gen- 

i8i 



1 82 WESTWARD HO! 

eral lines of his previous speecli to the legislators. He 
referred to his now famous letter on "Race Suicide," stating 
that while the letter had attracted much more attention than 
he imagined it would, yet he was glad of it; that he reaffirmed 
the sentiments he had therein expressed, and believed that 
the discussion which had been created Avould have a marked 
effect upon the race. We were, he said, by the amalgamation 
of foreign nationalities, the intermarriage of the sturdy emi- 
grants who had reached our shores, evolving a new race — an 
American race. 

A FAMILY OF SIXTY-ONE 

While in St. Paul, President Roosevelt was presented, by 
Mayor R. A. Smith, with a picture of the family of J. P. Rhein, 
of Washington County, Minnesota, the picture including Mr. 
and Mrs. Rhein, their nine children, forty-eight grandchildren, 
and two great-grandchildren. All reside within fifty miles of 
the old homestead. When the President arrived at Sioux 
F"alls, he wrote the following letter to Mayor Smith: 

Win you congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Rhein for me? I am proud of them and 
was pleased as possible with the pictures of their children and grandchildren. This 
is the stuff out of which we make good American citizens. 

Thanking you for your courtesy during my recent visit in St. Paul, I am 

Sincerely j'ours. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

At the close of his speech the carriages were resumed and 
the President's party drove through a small part of the resi- 
dence section, after which special electric cars conveyed them 
to Minneapolis. Thousands of persons marked the route of 
the cars that were bringing the distinguished guest from St. 
Paul, and a vast concourse of people assembled in the vicinity 
of the Nicollet Hotel to welcome him to Minneapolis. At the 
close of a magnificent banquet, the President left the hotel to 



WESTWARD HO! 183 

take his place in the drive to the Armory, where an immense 
audience awaited him. He was introduced by President 
Northrup of the Minnesota University and spoke as follows: 

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT'S MINNEAPOLIS SPEECH 

My Fellow-Citizens: At the special session of the Senate held in March the 
Cuban reciprocity treaty was ratified. When this treaty goes into eflfect it will con- 
fer substantial economic benefits alike upon Cuba, because of the widening of her 
market in the United States, and upon the United States, because of the equal 
widening and the progressive control it wnll give to our people in the Cuban market. 
This treaty is beneficial to both parties and justifies itself on several grounds. In 
the first place we offer to Cuba her natural market. We can confer upon her a 
benefit which no other nation can confer ; and for the very reason that we have 
started her as an independent republic and that we are rich, prosperous, and power- 
ful, it behooves us to stretch out a helping hand to our feebler younger sister. In the 
next place, it widens the market for our products, both the products of the farm and 
certain of our manufactures ; and it is therefore in the interests of our farmers, 
manufacturers, merchants, and wage workers. Finally, the treaty was not merely 
warranted, but demanded, apart from all other considerations, by the enlightened 
consideration of our foreign policy. More and more in the future we must occupy a 
preponderant position in the waters and along the coasts in the regions south of us ; 
not a position of control over the republics of the South, but of control of the mili- 
tar\' situation so as to avoid any possible complications in the future. Under the 
Piatt amendment Cuba agreed to give us certain naval stations on her coast. The 
Navy Department decided that we needed but two, and we have specified where 
these two are to be. President Palma has concluded an agreement giving them to 
us— an agreement which the Cuban legislative body will doubtless ratify. In other 
words, the Republic of Cuba has assumed a special relation to our international 
political system, under which she gives us outposts of defense, and we are morally 
bound to extend to her in a degree the benefit of our own economic system. From 
every standpoint of wise and enlightened home and foreign policy the ratification of 
the Cuban treaty marked a step of substantial progress in the growth of our nation 
toward greatness at home and abroad. 

Equally important was the action of the tariff upon products of the Philippines. 
We gave them a reduction of twenty-five per cent, and would have given them a 
reduction of twenty-five per cent more had it not been for the opposition, in the 
hurried closing days of the last session, of certain gentlemen who, by the way, have 
been representing themselves both as peculiarly solicitous for the interests of the 



i84 WESTWARD HO: 

Philippine people and as special champions of the lowering of tariff duties. There 
is a distinctly humorous side to the fact that the reduction of duties which would 
benefit Cuba and the Philippines as well as ourselves, was antagonized- chiefly by 
those who in theoiy have been fond of proclaiming themselves the advanced guard- 
ians of the oppressed nationalities in the islands affected and the ardent advocates 
of the reduction of duties generally, but who instantly took violent ground against 
the practical steps to accomplish either purpose. 

Moreover, a law was enacted putting anthracite on the free list and completely 
removing the duties on all other kinds of coal for one year. 

We are now in a condition of prosperity unparalleled, not merely in our own 
history, but in the history of any other nation. This prosperity is deep-rooted and 
stands on a firm basis because it is due to the fact that the average American has in 
him the stuff out of which victors are made in the great industrial contests of the 
present day, just as in the great military contests of the past ; and because he is now 
able to use and develop his qualities to best advantage under our well-established 
economic system. We are winning headship among the nations of the world because 
our people are able to keep their high average of individual citizenship and to show 
their mastery in the hard, complex, pushing life of the age. There will be fluctua- 
tions from time to time in our prosperity, but it will continue to grow just so long as 
we keep up this high average of individual citizenship and permit it to work out its 
own salvation under proper economic legislation. 

BASIS OF OUR TARIFF POLICY 

The present phenomenal prosperity has been won under a tariff which was made 
in accordance with certain fixed and definite principles, the most important of which 
is an avowed determination to protect the interests of the American producer, busi- 
ness man, wage worker, and farmer alike. The general tariff policy, to which, 
without regard to changes in detail, I believe this country is irrevocably committed, 
is fundamentally based upon ample recognition of the difference between the cost of 
production — that is, the cost of labor — here and abroad, and of the need to see to it 
that our laws shall in no event afford advantage in our own market to foreign indus- 
tries, to foreign capital over American capital, to foreign labor over our own labor. 
This country' has and this country needs better-paid, better-educated, better-fed, 
better-clothed workingmen, of a higher type, than are to be found in any foreign 
country. It has and it needs a higher, more vigorous, and more prosperous type of 
tillers of the soil than is possessed by any other country. The business men, the 
merchants and manufacturers, and the managers of the transportation interests 
show the same superiority when compared with men of their type abroad. The 
events of the last few years have shown how skillfully the leaders of Anieric-.n indus- 



WESTWARD HO! 185 

try use in international business competition the mighty industrial weapons forgcfl 
for them by the resources of our own country-, the wisdom of our laws, and the skill, 
the inventive genius, and the administrative capacity of our people. 

It is, of course, a mere truism to say that we want to use evei-ything in our 
power to foster the welfare of our entire body politic. In other words, we need to 
treat the tariff as a business proposition, from the standpoint of the interests of tha 
country' as a whole, and not with reference to the temporary needs of any political 
party. It is almost as necessary that our policy should be stable as that it should be 
wise. A nation like ours could not long stand the ruinous policy of readjusting its 
business to radical changes in the tariff at short intervals, especially when, as now. 
owing to the immense extent and variety of our products, the tariff schedules carry 
rates of duty on thousands of different articles. Sweeping and violent changes in 
such a tariff, touching so vitally the interests of all of us, embracing agriculture, 
labor, manufactures, and commerce, would be disastrous in anj' event, and they 
would be fatal to our present well-being if approached on the theory that the prin- 
ciple of the protective tariff was to be abandoned. The business world, that is, the 
entire American world, cannot afford, if it has any regard for its own welfare, even 
to consider the advisability of abandoning the present system. 

MUST BE ADAPTED TO CHANGED CONDITIONS 

Yet, on the other hand, where the industrial conditions so frequently change, as 
with us must of necessity be the case, it is a matter of prime importance that we 
should be able from time to time to adapt our economic policy to the changed condi- 
tions. Our aim should be to preserve the policy of a protective tariff, in which the 
nation as a whole has acquiesced, and j-et wherever and whenever necessary to 
change the duties in particular paragraphs or schedules as matters of legislative 
detail, if such change is demanded. 

In making any readjustment there are certain important considerations that can- 
not be disregarded. If a tariff law has on the whole worked well, and if business 
has prospered under it and is prospering, it may be better to endure some incon- 
veniences and inequalities for a time than by making changes to risk causing dis- 
turbance and perhaps paralysis in the industries and business of the country. The 
fact that a change in a given rate of duty may be thought desirable does not settle 
the question whether it is advisable to make the change immediately. Every tariff 
deals with duties on thousands of articles arranged in hundreds of paragraphs and 
in many schedules. These duties affect a vast number of interests which are often 
conflicting. If necessary for our welfare, then, of course. Congress must consider 
the question of changing the law as a whole or changing any given rates of duty, but 
we must remember that whenever even a single schedule is considered some interests 



i86 WESTWARD HO! 

will appear to demand a change in almost every schedule in the law; and when 
it comes to upsetting the schedules generally, the effect upon the business interests 
of the country would be ruinous. 

TRUSTS UNAFFECTED BY TARIFF 

One point we must keep steadily in mind. The question of tariff revision, speak- 
ing broadly, stands wholly apart from the question of dealing with trusts. No change 
in tariff duties can have any substantial effect in solving the so-called trust problem. 
Certain great trusts or great corporations are wholly unaffected by the tariff. Prac- 
tically all the others that are of any importance have, as a matter of fact, numbers 
of smaller American competitors; and, of course, a change in the tariff which would 
work injury to the large corporation would work not merely injury but destruction to 
its smaller competitors; and equally, of course, such a change would mean disaster to 
all the wage workers connected with either the large oi the small corporations. From 
the standpoint of those interested in the solution of the trust problem, such a change 
would therefore merely mean that the trust was relieved of the competition of its 
weaker American competitors, and thrown into competition only with foreign com- 
petitors; and that the first effort to meet this new competition would be made by 
cutting down wages, and would therefore be primarily at the cost of labor. In the 
case of some of our greatest trusts, such a change might confer upon them a posi- 
tive benefit. Speaking broadly, it is evident that the changes in the tariff will affect 
the trusts for weal or for woe simply as they affect the whole country. The tariff 
affects trusts only as it affects all other interests. It makes all these interests, 
large or small, profitable; and its benefits can be taken from the large only under 
penalty of taking them from the small also. 

CANNOT AFFORD TO BECOME FOSSILIZED 

To sum up, then, we must as a people approach a matter of such prime economic 
importance as the tariff from the standpoint of our business needs. We cannot 
afford to become fossilized or to fail to recognize the fact that as the needs of the 
country change it may be necessary to meet these new needs by changing certain 
features of our tariff laws. Still less can we afford to fail to recognize the further 
fact that these changes must not be made until the need for them outweigh the dis- 
advantages which may result; and when it becomes necessary to make them they 
should be made with full recognition of the need of stability in our economic system 
and of keeping unchanged the principle of that system which has now become a 
settled policy in our national life. We have prospered marvelously at home. As a 
nation we stand in the very forefront in the giant international industrial competition 
of the da}'. We cannot afford by any freak of folly to forfeit the position to which 
we have thus triumphantly attained. 



WESTWARD IIO! ,87 

THE PRESIDENT AT SIOUX FALLS 

After his speech at the Armory, the Prtisich-nt was driven 
to his car, and at eleven o'clock the train left for Sioux Falls, 
S. D., where he spent a quiet Sunday. Owing to the fact that 
both in Milwaukee and Minneapolis the length of the program 
did not permit the President to reach his car until midnight, 
he announced that hereafter he would, in the evening, not 
begin speaking later than 8:.^o o'clock, in order to be back in 
his car at ten o'clock. In Sioux Falls he attended church, 
both in the morning and evening, and in the afternoon went 
for a horseback ride. On Monday morning he addressed four 
thousand school children and later made the principal speech 
of the day, speaking on "The Wage Worker and the Tiller of 
the Soil." While the President was speaking snow began to 
fall, but as he wore a heavy overcoat he was well protected. 
In addressing an enthusiastic audience, made up principally of 
farmers who had come for miles to see him, he said: 

THE WAGE WORKER AND THE TILLER OF THE SOIL 

Fellow-Citizens: There are many lesser problems which go to make up m their 
entirety the huge and complex problems of our modern industrial life. Each of 
these problems is, moreover, connected with many of the others. Few, indeed, are 
simple or stand only by themselves. The most important are those connected with 
the relation of the farmers, the stock-growers, and soil-tillers, to the community at 
large, and those affecting the relations between employer and employed. In a coun- 
try like ours it is fundamentally true that the well-being of the tiller of the soil and 
the wage worker is the well-being of the State, If they are well off, then we need 
concern our.selves but little as to how other classes stand, for they will inevitably be 
well oflf, too; and, on the other, hand, there can be no real general prosperity unless 
based on the foundation of the prosperity of the wage worker and the tiller of the 
soil. 

But the needs of these two classes are often not the same. The tiller of the soil 
has been of all our citizens the one on the whole the least aflfected in his ways of life 
and methods of industry by the giant indu.strial changes of the last half century. 
There has been change with him, too, of coiirr.e. He a'so can wmk to best advantage 



1 88 WESTWARD HO! 

if he keeps in close touch with his fellows ; and the success of the national Department 
of Agriculture has shown how much can be done for him by rational action of the 
government. Nor is it only through the Department it can act. One of the great- 
est and most beneficent measures passed by the last Congress, or indeed by any 
Congress in recent years, is the Irrigation Act. which will do for the States of the 
Great Plains and the Rocky Mountain region at least as much as ever has been done 
for the States of the humid region by river and harbor improvements. Few meas- 
ures that have been put upon the statute books of the nation have done more for the 
people than this \a\v will, I firmly believe, directly and indirectly accomplish for the 
States in question. 

WHAT THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE IS DOING 

The Department of Agriculture devotes its whole energy to working for the wel- 
fare of farmers and stock-growers. In every section of our country it aids them in 
their constantly increasing search for a better agricultural education. It helps not 
only them, but all the nation, in seeing that our exports of meats have clean bills of 
health, and that there is rigid inspection of all meats that enter into interstate com- 
merce. Thirty-eight million carcasses were inspected during the last fiscal year. 
Our stock-growers sell forty -five million dollars' worth of live stock annually, and 
these animals must be kept healthy or else our people wall lose their trade. Our 
export of plant products to foreign countries amounts to over six hundred million 
dollars a year, and there is no branch of its work to which the Department of Agri- 
culture devotes more care. Thus the Department has been successfully introducing 
a macaroni wheat from the headwaters of the Volga, which grows successfully in ten 
inches of rainfall, and by this means wheat-growing has been successfully extended 
westward into the semi-arid region. Two million bushels of this wheat were grown 
last year; and, being suited to dry conditions, it can be used for forage as well as 
for food for man. 

The Department of Agriculture has been helping our fruit men to establish mar- 
kets abroad by studying methods of fruit preservation through refrigeration and 
thorough methods of handling find packing. On the Gulf coasts of Louisiana and 
Texas, thanks to the Department of Agriculture, a rice suitable to the region was 
imported from the Orient and the rice crop now is practically equal to our needs in 
this country, whereas a few years ago it supplied but one-fourth of them. The most 
important of our farm products is the grass crop; and to show what has been done 
with grasses. I need only to allude to the striking change made in the entire West by 
the extended use of alfalfa. 

Moreover, the Department has taken the lead in the effort to prevent the 
deforestation of the country. Where there -ire forests we .seek to preserve them; 



WESTWARD HOI ' • igg 

and on the once treeless plains and the prairies we are doing our best to foster the 
habit of tree planting among our people. In my own lifetime I have seen wonderful 
changes brought about by this tree planting here in your own State and in the States 
immediately around it. 

There are a number of very important questions, such as that of good roads, 
with which the States alone can deal, and where all that the national government 
can do is to cooperate with them. The same is true of the education of the Ameri- 
can farmer. A number of the States have themselves started to help in this work, 
and the Department of Agriculture does an immense amount which is in the proper 
sense of the word educational, and educational in the most practical wa\. 

WAGE WORKER FACES CHANGED CONDITIONS 

It is therefore clearly true that a great advance has been made in the direction 
of finding ways by which the government can help the farmer to help him.self— the 
only kind of help which a self-respecting man will accept, or I may add, which will 
in the end do him any good. Much has been done in these ways, and farm life and 
farm proces,ses continually change for the better. The farmer himself still retains, 
because of his surroundings and the nature of his work, to a pretjrainent degree the 
qualities which we like to think of as distinctly American in considering our early 
history.. The man who tills his own farm, whether on the prairie or in the woodland 
the man who grows what we eat and the raw material which is worked up into 
what we wear, still exists more nearly under the conditions which obtained when 
the "embattled farmers" of '76 made this country a nation than is true of any others 
of our people. 

But the wage workers in our cities, like the capitalists in our cities, face totally 
changed conditions. The development of machinery and the extraordinary- chauge 
in business conditions have rendered the employment of capital and of persons in 
large aggregations not merely profitable but often nece.ssary for success, and have 
specialized the labor of the wage worker at the same time that they have brought 
great aggregations of wage workers together. More and more in our great indus- 
trial centers men have come to realize that they cannot live as independently of one 
another as in the old days w^s the case everywhere, and is now the case in the 
country districts. 

Of course, fundamentally each man will yet find that the chief factor in deter- 
mining his success or failure in life is the sum of his own individual qualities. He 
cannot afford to lose his individual initiative, his individual will and power; but he 
can best use that power if for certain objects he unites with his fellows. Much can 
be done by organization, combination, union among the wage workers; finallv, 
something can be done by the direct action of the State. It is not possible empiric- 



I go 



WESTWARD HO! 



ally to declare whetfthe interference of the State should be deemed legitimate and 
when illegitimate. 

The line of demarcation between unhealthy' over-interference and unhealthy 
lack of regulation is not always well defined, and shifts with the change in our 
industrial needs. Most certainly we should never invoke the interference of the 
State or nation unless it is absolutely necessary ; but it is equally true that when con- 
fident of its necessity we should not on academic grounds refuse it. Wise factory 
laws, laws to forbid the employment of child labor and to safeguard the employees 
against the effects of culpable negligence by the employer, are necessary, not merely 
in the interest of the honest and humane employer, who should not be penalized for 
his honesty and humanity by being exposed to unchecked competition with an 
unscrupulous rival. It is far more difficult to deal with the greed that works through 
cunning than with the greed that works through violence. But the effort to deal 
with it must be steadily made. 

THE SETTLEMENT OF STRIKES 

Very much of our effort in reference to labor matters sliould be by every device 
and expedient to try to secure a constantly better understanding between employer 
and employee. Everything possible should be done to increase the sympathy and 
fellow-feeling between them, and every chance taken to allow each to look at all 
questions, especially at questions in dispute, somewhat through the other's eyes. 
If met with a sincere desire to act fairly by one another, and if there is, furthermore, 
power by each to appreciate the other's standpoint, the chance of trouble is mini- 
mized. I suppose every thinking man rejoices when by mediation or arbitration it 
proves possible to settle troubles in time to avert the suffering and bitterness caused 
by strikes. Moreover, a conciliation committee can do best work when the trouble 
is in its beginning, or at least has not come to a head. When the break has actually 
occurred, damage has been done, and each side feels sore and angry; and it is 
difficult to get them together— difficult to make either forget its own wrongs and 
remember the rights of the other. If possible, the effort at conciliation or mediation 
or arbitration should be made in the earlier stages, and should be marked by the 
wish on the part of both sides to try to come to a common agreement which each 
shall think in the interests of the other as well as of itself. 

When we deal with such a subject we are fortunate in having before us an 
admirable object-lesson in the work that has just been closed by the Anthracite Coal 
Strike Commission. This was the Commission which was appointed last fall at the 
time when the coal strike in the anthracite regions threatened our nation with a 
disaster second to none which has befallen us since the days of the Civil War. Their 
report was made just before the Senate adjourned at the special session ; and no gov- 



WESTWARD HO! I9I 

ernment document of recent years marks a more important piece of work better 
done, and there is none which teaches sounder social morality to our people. The 
Commission consisted of seven as jjood men as were to be found in the country, 
representing the bench, the church, the army, the professions, the employers and the 
employed. They acted as a unit, and the report which they unanimously signed is 
a masterpiece of sound common sense and of sound doctrine on the very question 
with which our people should most deeply concern themselves. The immediate 
effect of this Commission's appointment and action was of vast and of incalculable 
benefit to the nation ; but the ultimate effect will be even better, if capitalist, wage 
worker, and law-maker alike will take to heart and act upon the lessons set forth 
in the report they have made. 

Of course, the national government has but a small field in which it can work in 
labor matters. Something it can do, however, and that something ought to be done. 
Among other things I should like to see the District of Columbia, which is completely 
under the control of the national government, receive a set of model labor laws. 
Washington is not a cit)- of ver\' large industries, but still it has some. Wise labor 
legislation for the city of Washington would be a good thing in itself, and it would be 
a far better thing, because a standard would thereby be set for the countrj' as a whole. 

In the field of general legislation relating to these subjects the action of Con- 
gress is necessarily very limited. Still there are certain ways in which we can act. 
Thus the Secretary of the Navy has recommended, with my cordial and hearty 
approval, the enactment of a strong employers' liability law in the navy-yards of the 
nation. It should be extended to similar branches of the government work. Again, 
sometimes such laws can be enacted as an incident to the nation's control over inter- 
state commerce. In my last annual message to Congress I advocated the passage 
of a law in reference to car couplings — to strengthen the features of the one already 
on the statute books so as to minimize the exposure to death and maiming of rail- 
way employees. Much opposition had to be overcome. In the end an admirable 
law was passed "to promote the safety of employees and travelers upon railroads by 
compelling common carriers engaged in interstate commerce to equip their cars with 
automatic couplers and continuous brakes." This law received my signature a 
couple of days before Congress adjourned. It represents a real and substantial 
advance in an admirable kind of legislation. 

THE TRIP THROUGH THE DAKOTAS 

President Roosevelt made twelve speeches during his trip 
through the Dakotas, most of which were confined to the 
tariff and the general prosperity of the country. At Tulare the 



ig2 WESTWARD HO! 

President departed from his usual custom, and, descending from 
his car, shook hands with the people gathered at the station. 
Yankton was the first stop after the train left Sioux Falls. 
The other stops of the day were made at Woonsocket, Scot- 
land, Tripp, Tarkiston, Alpena and Redfield. 

President Roosevelt spent a half-hour Tuesday night in 
Medora, N. D., which was his postoffice address when he 
owned a ranch there sixteen years before, and was sheriff of 
Billings County. Medora is small, but the ranchmen from the 
country for miles in that vicinity came to town and united in 
giving the President a truly Western reception. Joe Ferris, 
who was the President's old foreman at Bismarck, rode with 
him to Medora and recalled the days the Chief Executive 
spent on his ranch. Probably Tuesday was the most enjoy- 
able day of the President's trip. He was in familiar country 
all the time and enjoyed the experience immensely. Perhaps 
the most significant speech was the one delivered at Fargo in 
the morning. This was one of his set speeches and was a dis- 
cussion of the administration's Philippine policy and the army. 
The President spoke in part as follows: 

THE PHILIPPINE POLICY 

Three and a half years ago President McKinley spoke in the adjoining State of 
Minnesota on the occasion of the return of the Thirteenth Volunteers from the Philip- 
pine Islands, where they had ser^-ed with your own gallant sons of the North Dakota 
regiment. He spoke of the island as follows: 

"That Congress will provide for them a government which will bring them 
blessings, which will promote their material interests as well as advance their people 
in the path of civilization and intelligence, I confidently believe. They will not be 
governed as vassals or serfs or slaves. They will be given a government of liberty, 
regulated by law honestly administered, without oppressing exactions, taxation 
without tyranny, justice without bribe, education without distinction of social condi- 
tion, freedom of religious worship, and protection in 'life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
happiness." " 




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WESTWARD ItO! 



193 



What he said then lay iu the reahii <if promise. Now it lies in the realm of 
positive performance. 

If promises are violated, if plighted word is not kept, then those who have failed 
iu their duty should be held up to reprobation. If, on the other hand, the promises 
have been substantially made good ; if the achievement has kept pace, and more 
than kept pace with the prophecy, then they who made the one are responsible for 
the other and are entitled of just right to claim the credit which attaches to those who 
serve the nation well. This credit I claim for the men who have managed so admir- 
ably the military and the civil afiFairs of the Philippine Islands, and for those men 
who have so heartily backed them in Congress, and without whose aid and support 
not one thing could have been accomplished. 

To put down the insurrection and restore peace to the islands was a duty not 
only to ourselves but to the islanders also. We could not have abandoned the con- 
flict without shirking this duty, without proving ourselves recreants to the memory 
of our forefathers. 

It seems strange, looking back, that any of our people should have failed to 
recognize a duty so obvious; but there was such failure, and the government at 
home, the civil authorities in the Philippines, and above all our gallant army, had to 
do their work amid a storm of detraction. The army in especial was attacked in a 
way which finally did good, for in the end it aroused the heart)' resentment of the 
great body of the American people, not against the army, but against the army's 
traducers. 

MILITARY RULE REPLACED BY CIVIL GOVERNMENT 

The circumstances of the war made it one of peculiar difficulty, and our soldiers 
were exposed to peculiar wrongs from their foes. They fought in dense tropical 
jungles against enemies who were very treacherous and very cruel, not only toward 
our own men, but toward the great numbers of friendly natives, the most peaceable 
and most civilized among whom eagerly welcomed our rule. 

Under such circumstances, among a hundred thousand hot-blooded and power- 
ful young men serving in small detachments on the other side of the globe, it was 
impossible that occasional instances of wrong-doing should not occur. But these 
offenses were the exception and not the rule. As a whole, our troops showed not 
only signal courage and efiBciency, but great humanity and the most sincere desire 
to promote the welfare and liberties of the islanders. 

As rapidly as the military rule was extended over the islands by the defeat of 
the insurgents, ju.st so rapidly was it replaced by the civil government. At the 
present time the civil government is supreme and the army in the Philippines has 
been reduced until it is sufficient merely to provide against the recurrence of trouble. 



194 WESTWARD HO! 

The government is conducted purelj- in the interests of the people of the islands; 
they are protected in their religious and civil rights; they have been given an excel- 
lent and well-administered school system, and each of them now enjoys rights to 
"life, libertj', and the pursuit of happiness" such as were never before known in all 
the history of the islands. 

Not only has the military rule in the Philippines been worked out quicker and 
better than we had dared to expect, but the progress socially and in civil government 
has likewise exceeded our fondest hopes. 

Remember always that in the Philippines the American government has tried 
and is trying to carry out exactly what the greatest genius and most revered patriot 
ever known in the Philippine Islands — Jose Rizal — steadfastly advocated. This 
man, shortly before his death, in a message to his countrymen, under date of Decem- 
ber i6, 1S96, condemned unsparingly the insurrection of Aguinaldo, terminated just 
before our navy appeared upon the scene, and pointed out the path his people should 
follow to liberty and enlightenment. 

Moreover, the last Congress enacted some admirable legislation aflfecting the 
army, passing first of all the militia bill, and then the bill to create a general stafif. 
The general staff law is of immense importance and benefit to the regular army. 
Individually, I would not admit that the American regular, either oflScer or enlisted 
man, is inferior to any other regular soldier in the world. 

Under the worn-out and ineffective organization which has hitherto existed, a 
sudden strain is absolutely certain to produce the dislocation and confusion we saw 
at the outbreak of the war with Spain ; and when such dislocation and confusion 
occurs it is easy and natural, but entirely improper, to blame the men who happen to 
be in office, instead of the system which is really responsible. Under the law just 
enacted by Congress this sj-stem will be changed immensely for the better, and 
every patriotic American ought to rejoice; tor when we come to the army and the 
navy we deal with the honor and interest of all our people ; and when such is the 
case, party lines are as nothing, and we all stand shoulder to shoulder as Americans, 
moved only by pride and love for our common country. 

At Bismarck President Roosevelt was introduced to a num- 
ber of Indian chiefs, some of whom had fought against Custer. 
He had traded with two of the Indians eighteen or twenty 
years before and instantly recognized them. The chiefs pre- 
sented an address and a pipe of peace to the White Father, 
who had a few words of greeting and thanks for each. 



WES'lVVARD HO! igj 

ENTERS YELLOWSTONE PARK 

Late Wednesday afternoon President Roosevelt and his 
party entered Yellowstone Park, where he remained for six- 
teen days, entirely shut off from the world, safe from intrusion 
and occupied only with camping- and resting. The President 
was accompanied by John Burroughs, the eminent naturalist. 
The presidential train arrived at Gardiner, the entrance to the 
park, Wednesday noon and was met by a detachment of the 
Third Cavalry. Major Pitcher was on hand to welcome the 
President, and after luncheon had been served in the car, 
the latter mounted his horse and made a brief address to the 
people. He then bade the members of his party good-bye, 
and led the way into the park, Mr. Burroughs following in an 
army wagon. On April 23d, President Roosevelt's vacation 
came to an end. 

The President spent most of his time during his tour of the 
park in studying the habits of the game. He would lie for 
hours near a herd of elk or mountain goats, and frequently 
walked eight or ten miles to observe them. He also spent a 
great deal of his time in studying bird life with Mr. Burroughs. 
The President's camp was composed of two Sibley tents and 
one wall tent without board floors, and while everything was 
simple, yet it was quite comfortable. The party consisted of 
Major Pitcher, Mr. Burroughs, a couple of orderlies and two 
cooks; there was also a small force of men to look after the 
pack wagon. 

AN AMUSING INCIDENT 

During the visit to Geyserland, the President and Mr. 
Burroughs were on skis and started to race downhill. The 
snow was soft, and Mr. Burroughs, who had never used the ski 
before, soon found himself with his head in the snow and his 



196 WESTWARD HO: 

feet in the air. He had hardly regained his footing when the 
President duplicated the performance. While no accidents 
occurred, the President had a number of narrow escapes. 
One day, in company with Major Pitcher, he was firing a new 
revolver at a tree. The weapon was defective and the empty 
shell f^ew back and struck the President on the cheek, draw- 
ing the blood. If it had struck a little higher up it would have 
injured, if not blinded, one eye. 

The longest walk enjoyed by the President was taken on 
Easter Sunday. He started out alone in the morning, declin- 
ing the offer of other members of the party to accompany 
him. He spent the day in climbing mountains and walking 
along the trail, covering twenty miles. On April 24th, he laid 
the corner stone of the new gate at the northern entrance to 
Yellowstone Park. At the conclusion of the ceremonies Presi- 
dent Roosevelt started at once for his trip to the coast. On 
April 25th, he traveled in three States, and made a number of 
addresses, both from the rear platform of his car and from 
stands erected for the purpose. 

A COWBOY SHOW 

The most unique demonstration of the day, and the one 
that undoubtedly pleased the President most, was the cowboy 
show at Edgemont. The demonstration was arranged by the 
Society of Black Hill Pioneers, and consisted of exhibitions of 
cowboy riding. Special trains brought in a large crowd from 
the surrounding country, and they were all at the station, with 
three bands of music, to greet the President. 

As a train pulled in, the cowboys let out a yell, the bands 
played and the salute was fired. The exhibition stand was 
but a short distance from the depot, and after the President 
had made an address, the boys began riding the bucking 



WESTWARD HO! 197 

horses, and the President partook of lunch at the niess wagon. 
The only disappointment of the day was the failure of the 
prize bucking horse of that section to perform. This horse 
has a record as a champion backer, but on this occasion he 
was as gentle as a kitten. At the conclusion of the exercises 
the cowboys formed an escort to the train, and after it had 
started they dashed alongside the President's car and he 
shook hands with many of them from the window. 

WELCOME AT NEWCASTLE 

At Newcastle, Wyo., where a half-hour stop was made 
early in the day, the President was escorted to the speaker's 
stand along a pathway strewn with flowers and lined on one 
side by school children who waved miniature flags and seemed 
to enjoy the President's speech as much as their elders. In 
his address President Roosevelt said he wished publicly to 
express his acknowledgment for the way in which the Wyo- 
ming senators and congressmen had cooperated with him in 
Washington. He referred to the irrigation law passed at the 
last session of Congress, said he believed much good would 
come of it, as the government would be able to undertake 
enterprises which would be beyond the power of private capi- 
tal, but that the government would be able to try experiments 
from the result of which capital would be able to learn much. 

At Crawford, Neb., the President was given a military wel- 
come. Here he spoke a few words of greeting to the sol- 
diers and also spoke briefly to the large crowd that had 
gathered at his car. Stops were also made during the day at 
Gillette and Moorcroft, Wyo., and Ardmore, S. D. The 
President went on Sunday, April 26th, to Grand Island, Neb., 
and on Monday morning broke ground for the new Carnegie 
Library at that place. At Hastings he made an address from 



198 WESTWARD HO! 

the station platform, speaking of the forestry situation in 
Nebraska, urging that the work be pushed forward. 

At Lincoln he was greeted by fifty thousand persons and 
escorted to a stand in the Capitol grounds by Civil War 
veterans, cadet battalions from the University of Nebraska, 
and the First Regiment of the Nebraska National Guards. 
The President spoke briefly on good citizenship, and praised 
the State for its men, women and children, saying the stock 
was superior and he wanted to see it increase. Brief stops 
were made at Vermont, Crete, Wahoo, and Fairmont, where 
the President addressed assembled crowds from the rear of 
his train. Wednesday morning the President began his trip 
to Iowa. 

SPEAKS ON THE LABOR QUESTION 

At Omaha he made a speech on the labor question in which 
he urged, above all, honesty and common sense in dealings 
between capital and labor. The capitalist must not look down 
in arrogance upon the laborer; neither must the latter look 
up with envy and hatred to the capitalist. Each needs the 
other; both must stand or fall together; so they must meet on 
the common plane and be honest with each other. He said: 

Any man who tries to excite class hatred, sectional hatred, hate of creeds, any 
kind of hatred in a community, though he may affect to do it in the interest of the 
class he is representing, is, with absolute certainty, that class's own worst enemy. 
In the long run, and as a whole, we are going to go up or go down together. ■ 

ACROSS THE STATE OF IOWA 

On Tuesday, President Roosevelt dashed across the State 
of Iowa and was everywhere met by a large and enthusiastic 
crowd. His speech-making began at seven o'clock in the 
morning, when he made a brief stop at Shenandoah, and his 
last speech was delivered in the evening before thousands of 



WESTWARD HO! 199 

people. One of the largest crowds that greeted the President 
during his trip was at Des Moines, where he made two 
speeches, one at the convention of Mystic Shriners, the other 
at the State Capitol. During the President's drive through 
the city, four mothers, each with a baby in her arms, 
approached his carriage and handed him bouquets of flowers; 
they then held the babies up to be kissed, and the President 
did not disappoint them. Stops were made at Clarinda, 
Sharpsburg, Van Wert, Osceola and Oskaloosa. At the latter 
place he dedicated the new Y. M. C. A. building. 



CHAPTER XV 

SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

Arrives at St. Louis — Dines with Ex-President Cleveland — Dedicates the 
Louisiana Purchase Exposition -The President's Speech Received with 
Great Enthusiasm— Cordial Demonstration by Kansas City People — 
Ovations in Colorado and California — Speaiis en Expansion in San 
Francisco — The Trip through Nevada and Oregon — Greeted by Cheer- 
ing Thousands in Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho and Utah — 
Homeward Bound. 

The President left Ottumwa early Wednesday morning, 
and arrived at St. Louis at 4.30 p. m. Here a troop of cavalry 
men from the Fourth Regiment met him at the station; a 
dozen carriages were in waiting and a detail of mounted 
police was in attendance, and great crowds filled the streets in 
every direction. 

ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION IN ST. LOUIS 

He was driven directly to the Odeon, where the National 
Good Roads Association delegates were assembled in annual 
convention, but whose proceedings for the day had been aban- 
doned because the President had promised to make an address 
to the audience in the hall. They rose in a body and saluted 
as he faced them on the platform. He talked to them of good 
roads, and of the good things that come to a nation in the 
wake of good roads. Immediately after leaving the Odeon 
he was escorted again between deep lines of spectators, to the 
St. Louis University, where he made a brief speech. Mr. 
Roosevelt was next driven to the residence of E.\-( Governor 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 201 

David R. Francis, president of the Louisiana Purchase Expo- 
sition, where he remained until eight o'cloclc, nnd where he 
addressed a meeting of the Franz-Sigel Monument Associa- 
tion. When the President reached Mr. Francis's home he 
found that Ex-President Grover Cleveland, who, like him, was 
to be the guest of the Exposition, had already arrived. Presi- 
dent Roosevelt and Mr. Cleveland dined together. 

IMPRESSIVE PAGEANTS AND CEREMONIES 

The following day, the Louisiana Purchase Exposition was 
formally dedicated within the Liberal Arts Building, where 
about fifty thousand persons had assembled. But the dedica- 
tory exercises were only a small part of the day's events. 

A most impressive military pageant wound through the 
beautiful avenues, in the residence portion of the city, where 
over three hundred thousand spectators lined the streets and 
greeted the soldiery with continuous cheers. President 
Roosevelt was driven at the head of the procession in an open 
carriage, and in line close behind him were Grover Cleveland, 
delegations of ambassadors, cabinet officers, senators, con- 
gressmen, governors, and other distinguished men. From the 
spacious reviewing stand on the Exposition grounds, the 
President watched the long line of soldiers march past to 
the music of many bands. 

The dedicatory exercises were opened with prayer by the 
celebrated Roman Catholic prelate, Cardinal Gibbons. 
Chairman Thomas Carter, of the National Commission, and 
President Francis, then made short addresses, the latter 
presenting the Louisiana Purchase Exposition to the United 
States through the nation's Chief Executive. When President 
Roosevelt arose from his chair to begin his speech, a burst of 
applause greeted him. He tried to speak, held up his hand, 



202 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

smiled and shook his head. It was of no avail. "Give me all 
the chance you can," he said, "I need it." Then he laughed, 
and those directly in front laughed and the laugh went 
repeating through the hall until it was one mighty roar. But 
in the end the President's good nature prevailed and he made 
his dedicatory speech. It is here given as follows: 

THE PRESIDENT'S DEDICATORY SPEECH 

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen; At the outset of my address let me 
recall to the mind of my hearers that the soil upon which we stand, before it was 
ours, was successively the possession of two mighty empires, Spain and France, 
whose sons made a deathless record of heroism in the early annals of the New 
World. No history of the western country can be written without paying heed to 
the wonderful part played therein in the early days by the soldiers, missionaries, 
explorers and traders, who did their work for the honor of the proud banners of 
France and Castile. 

While the settlers of English-speaking stock, and those of Dutch, German and 
Scandinavian origin who were associated with them, were still clinging close to the 
eastern .seaboard, the pioneers of Spain and of France had penetrated deep into the 
hitherto unknown wilderness of the We.st and had wandered far and wide within the 
boundaries of what is now our mighty country. The very cities themselves — St. 
Louis, New Orleans, Santa Fe, New Mexico— bear witness by their titles to the 
nationalities of their founders. It was not until the Revolution had begun that the 
English-speaking settlers pushed west across the Alleghenies, and not until a cen- 
tury ago that they entered in to possess the land upon which we now stand. 

We have met here to-day to commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the 
event which more than any other, after the foundation of the government and 
always excepting its preservation, determined the character of our national life— deter- 
mined that we should be a great expanding nation instead of relatively a small and 
stationary one. 

Of course, it was not with the Louisiana purchase that our career of expansion 
began. The Illinois region, including the present States of Illinois and Indiana, was 
added to our domain by force of arms, as a sequel to the adventurous expedition of 
George Rogers Clark and his frontier riflemen. Later the treaties of Jay and 
Pinckney materially extended our real boundaries to the west. But none of these 
events was of so striking a character as to fire the popular imagination. The old 
thirteen colonies had always claimed that their rights stretched westward to the 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 203 

Mississippi, and, vague and unreal though these claims were until made good by 
conquest, settlement and diplomacy, they will serve to give the impression thAt the 
earliest westward movements of our people were little more than the filling in of 
already existing national boundaries. 

But there could be no illusion about the acquisition of the vast territory beyond 
•che Mississippi, stretching westward to the Pacific, which in that day was known as 
Louisiana. This immense region was admittedly the territory of a foreign power, 
of a European kingdom. None of our people had ever laid claim to a foot of it. Its 
acquisition could in no sense be treated as rounding out any existing claims. When 
we acquired it we made evident once for all that consciously and of set purpose vvc had 
embarked on a career of expansion, that we had taken our place among tho.se darin" 
and hardy nations who risk much with the hope and desire of winning high position 
among the great powers of the earth. As is often the case in nature, the law of 
development of a living organism showed itself in its actual workings to be wiser 
than the wisdom of the wisest. 

This work of expansion was by far the greatest work of our people during the 
years that intervened between the adoption of the constitution and the outbreak of 
the Civil War. There were other questions of real moment and importance, and 
there were many which at the time seemed such to those engaged in answering 
them, but the greatest feat of our forefathers of those generations was the deed of 
the men who, with pack train or wagon train, on horseback, on foot, or by boat upon 
the waters, pushed the frontier ever westward across the continent. 

NATURAL EXPANSION 

Never before had the world seen the kind of national expansion which gave our 
people all that part of the American continent lying west of the original thirteen 
States, the greatest landmark in which was the Louisiana purchase. Our triumph 
in this process of expansion was indissolubly bound up with the success of our pecu- 
liar kind of federal government, and this success has been so complete that because 
of its verj- completeness we now sometimes fail to appreciate not only the all-impor- 
tance but the tremendous diflSculty of the problem with which our nation was orig- 
inally faced. 

When our forefathers joined to call into being this nation, they undertook a task 
for which there was but little encouraging precedent. The development of civiliza- 
tion from the earliest period seemed to show the truth of two propositions; In the 
first place, it had always proved exceedingly difficult to .secure both freedom and 
strength in any government, and in the second place, it had always proved well- 
nigh impossible for a nation to expand without either breaking up or becoming a 
centralized tyranny. With the success of our effort to combine a strong and efficient 



204 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

national uniou, able to put down disorder at home and to maintain our honor and 
interest abroad, I have not now to deal. This success was signal and all-important, 
but it was by no means unprecedented in the same sense that our type of expansion 
was unprecedented. 

The history of Rome and of Greece illustrates very well the two types of expan- 
sion which had taken place in ancient times and which had been universally accepted 
as the only possible types up to the period when as a nation we ourselves began to 
take possession of this continent. The Grecian states performed remarkable feats 
of colonization, but each colony as soon as created became entirely independent of 
the mother state, and in after years was almost as apt to prove its enemy as its 
friend. Local self-government, local independence, was secured, but only by the 
absolute sacrifice of anything resembling national unity. 

In consequence, the Greek world, for all its wonderful brilliancy and the extraor- 
dinary artistic, literary and philosophical development which has made all mankind 
its debtors for the ages, was yet wholly unable to withstand a formidable foe, save 
spasmodically. As soon as powerful, permanent empires arose on its outskirts, the 
Greek states in the neighborhood of such empires fell under their sway. National 
power and greatness -were completely sacrificed to local liberty. 

With Rome the exact opposite occurred. The imperial city rose to absolute 
dominion over all the peoples of Italy, and then expanded her rule over the entire 
civilized world by a process which kept the nation sti'ong and united, but gave no 
room whatever for local liberty and self-government All other cities and countries 
were subject to Rome. In consequence, this great and masterful race of warriors, 
rulers, road builders and administrators stamped their indelible impress upon all the 
after-life of our race, and yet let an over-centralization eat out the vitals of their 
empire until it became an empty shell ; so that when the barbarians came they 
destroyed only what had already become worthless to the world. 

ONLY THE FAR-SEEING WELCOME EXPANSION 

The underlying viciousness of each type of expansion was plain enough and the 
remedy now seems simple enough. But when the fathers of the republic first formu- 
lated the constitution under which we live this remedy was untried, and no one could 
foretell how it would work. They themselves began the experiment almost imme- 
diately by adding new States to the original thirteen. Excellent people in the East 
viewed this initial expansion of the country with great alarm. Exactly as during the 
colonial period many good people in the mother counliy thought it highly important 
that settlers should be kept out of the Ohio Valley in the interest of the fur companies, 
so after we had become a nation many good people of the Atlantic coast felt grave 
apprehension lest they might somehow be hurt by the westward growth of the nation. 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 205 

These good people shook their heads over the formation of States in the fertile 
Ohio Valley, which now forms part of the heart of our nation, and they declared that 
the destruction of the republic had been accomplished when through the Louisiana 
purchase we acquired nearly half of what is now that same republic's present terri- 
tory. Nor was their feeling unnatural. Only the adventurous and the far-.seeing 
can be expected heartily to welcome the process of expansion, for the nation that 
expands is a nation which is entering upon a great career, and with greatness there 
must of necessity come perils which daunt all save the most stout-hearted. 

We expanded by carving the wilderness into Territories, and out of these Terri- 
tories building new States when once they had received as permanent settlers a 
sufficient number of our own people. Being a practical nation, we have never tried 
to force on any section of our new territory an unsuitable form of government merely 
because it was suitable for another section under different conditions. Of the terri- 
torj' covered by the Louisiana purchase a portion was given statehood within a few 
years. Another portion has not been admitted to statehood, although a centurj' has 
elapsed— although doubtless it will soon be. In each case we showed the practical 
governmental genius of our race by devising methods suitable to meet the actual 
existing needs, not by insisting upon the application of some abstract shibboleth to 
all our new possessions alike, no matter how incongruous this application might 
sometimes be. 

PART OF THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS 

Over by far the major part of the territory, however, our people spread in such 
numbers during the course of the nineteenth century that we were able to build up 
State after State, each with exactly the same complete local independence in all 
matters affecting purely its own domestic interests as in any of the original thirteen 
States — each owing the same absolute fealty to the Union of all the States which 
each of the original thirteen States also owes — and finally each having the same pro. 
portional right to its share in shaping and directing the common policy of the LTnion 
which is possessed by any other State, whether of the original thirteen or not. 

This process now seems to us part of the natural order of things, but it was 
wholly unknown until our own people devised it. Il seems to us a mere matter of 
course, a matter of elementary right and ju.stice, that in the deliberations of the 
national representative bodies the representatives of a State which came into the 
Union but yesterday stand on a ftioting of exact and entire equality with those of 
the commonwealths whose sons once signed the Declaration of Independence. But 
this way of looking at the matter is purely modern, and in its origin purely Ameri- 
can. When Washington during his presidency saw new States come into the rnw':i 
on a footing of complete equality with the old, every European nation whi>:h iual 



2o6 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

colonies still administered them as dependencies, and every other mother country 
treated the colonist not as a self-governing equal but as a subject. 

The process which we began has since been followed by all the great peoples who 
were capable both of expansion and of self-government, and now the world accepts 
it as the natural process, as the rule ; but a century and a quarter ago it was not 
merely exceptional ; it was unknown. 

This, then, is the great historic significance of the movement of continental 
expansion In which the Louisiana purchase was the most striking single achieve- 
ment. It stands out in marked relief even among the feats of a nation of pioneers, 
a nation whose people have from the beginning been picked out by a process of 
natural selection from among the most enterprising individuals of the nations of 
western Europe. 

The acquisition of the territory is a credit to the broad and far-sighted states- 
manship of the great statesmen to whom it was immediately due, and, above all, to 
the aggressive and masterful character of the hardy pioneer folk to whose restless 
energy these statesmen gave expression and direction, whom they followed rather 
than led. The history of the land comprised within the limits of the purchase is an 
hostile men and epitome of the entire history of our people. 

THE OLD PIONEER DAYS ARE GONE 

Within these limits we have gradually built up State after State until now they 
many times over surpass in wealth, in population and in many-sided development 
the original thirteen States as they were when their delegates met in the continental 
congress. The people of these States have shown themselves mighty in war with 
their fellow man, and mighty in strength to tame the rugged wilderness. They 
could not thus have conquered the forest and the prairie, had they not possessed the 
great fighting virtues, the qualities which enable a people to overcome the forces of 
hostile nature. 

On the other hand, they could not have used aright their conquest had they not 
in addition possessed the quahties of self-mastery and self-restraint, the power of 
acting in combination with their fellows, the power of yielding obedience to the law 
and of building up an orderly civilization. Courage and hardihood are indispensable 
virtues in a people, but the people which possesses no others can never rise high in 
the scale either of power or of culture. Great peoples must have in addition the 
governmental capacity which comes only when individuals fully recognize their 
duties to one another and to the whole body politic, and are able to join together in 
feats of constructive statesmanship and of honest and effective administration. 

The old pioneer days are gone, with their roughness and their hardships, their 
incredible toil and their wild, half-savage romance. But the need of the pioneer 



SWINGING ARUUND TlIK CIRCLE 207 

virtues remains the same as ever. Tlio peculiar frontier crmditions liave vanisliofl, 
Imt the manliness and stalwart hardihodd of tlie frontiersmen can be given even freer 
scope under the conditions surroundin;.,' the complex industrialism of the present 
day. 

In this great region acquired for o>ir people under tlie presidency of Jefferson, 
this region stretching from the Gulf to the Canadian border, from the Mississippi to 
the Rockies, the material and social progress has been so vast that alike for weal and 
for woe its people now share the opportunities and bear the burdens common to the 
entire civilized world. The problems before us are fundamentally the same east 
and west of the Mississippi, in the new States and in the old, and exactly the same 
qualities are required for their successful solution. 

MAKE OUR WORDS GOOD BY DEEDS 

We meet here to-day to commemorate the great event, an event which marks an 
era in statesmanship no less than in pioneering. It is fitting that we pay our homage 
in words, but we must in honor make our words good by deeds. We have every 
light to take a just pride in the great deeds of our forefathers, but we show ourselves 
unworthy to be their descendants i£ we make what they did an excuse for our lying 
supine instead of an incentive to the effort to show ourselves by our acts worthy of 
them. In the administration of city. State, and nation, in the management of our 
home life and the conduct of our business and social relations, we are bound to show 
certain high and fine qualities of character under penalty of seeing the whole heart 
of our civilization eaten out while the body still lives. 

We justly pride ourselves on our marvelous material prosperity, and such pros- 
perity must exist in order to establish a foundation upon which a higher life can be 
built, but unless we do in very fact build this higher life thereon the material pros- 
perity itself will go for but very little. Now, in 1903, in the altered conditions, we 
must meet the changed and changing problems with the spirit shown by the men 
who in 1803 and in the subsequent years gained, explored, conquered and settled this 
vast territory, then a desert, now filled with thriving and populous States. 

The old days were great because the men who lived in them had mighty quali- 
ties, and we must make the new days great by showing these same qualities. We 
must insist upon courage and resolution, upon hardihood, tenacity, and fertility in 
resources; we must insist upon the strong, virile virtues, and we must insist no less 
upon the virtues of self-restraint, self-mastery, regard for the rights of others; we 
must show our abhorrence of cruelty, brutality and corruption in public and private 
life alike. If we come short in any of these qualities we shall measurably fail; 
and if, as I believe we surely shall, we develop these qualities in the future to an even 
greater degree than in the past, then in the century now beginning we shall make of 



2oS SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

this republic ttie freest and most mighty nation which has ever come forth from the 
womb of time 

ENTHUSIASTIC MEETING AT KANSAS CITY 

After President Roosevelt had witnessed the display of 
ftreworks which closed the day's ceremonies, he spent a few 
moments taking leave of the World's Fair officials and other 
distinguished participants in the ceremonies of the day, and 
was then driven to his train, which left at once for Kansas 
City. He remained five hours in Kansas City, Mo., and was 
the guest of Kansas City, Kans., just across the State line, for 
two hours, leaving for the West at 4 p. m., Friday. In the 
two cities the President was driven over a route fifteen miles 
long, reviewed nearly thirty thousand school children, made 
two speeches, one at the Convention Hall before the largest 
crowd that the structure ever held, and partook of a luncheon 
at the Baltimore Hotel. 

The reception given President Roosevelt was intensely 
enthusiastic and it was estimated that one hundred thousand 
persons greeted him. The schools were closed, business gen- 
erally was suspended, the Mayor having proclaimed it a holi- 
day, and many residences and business houses were elaborately 
decorated. Never before had there been such a general desire 
on the part of the citizens to show their esteem for a distin- 
guished visitor. 

SPOKE TO THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 

In the course of his speech at Convention Hall, the Presi- 
dent spoke a word of greeting to his audience and then 
addressed himself specially to the men who wore the blue 
and those who wore the gray, both being represented in the 
audience, and said: 

I do not usually say anything about our being a reunited country, and in every 
Northern audience wherever I see a group of men wearing a button of the Grand 




tu " 3 



f, S 




HON CHARLES WARREN FAIRBANKS 

Republican nominee '..-.r \'i.~e-President. 




THE FAMILY OF HON. CHARLES WARREN FAIRBANKS 

Frederick Fairbanks Mrs. Warren C. Fairbanks 

Mrs. Charles W. Fairbanks Captain Warren C. Fairbanks 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 209 

Army of the Republic, I am certain to find a group of men ready to cheer every allu- 
sion to the gallantry of the men who wore the gray. 

At the Union Pacific station, at Armstrong, where he took 
his train for the West, he received a delegation of students 
from the Kansas City University, who presented him with a 
gold badge set with pearls and diamonds, and designating him 
an honorary member of the University Library Association. 

CORDIAL RECEPTIONS IN KANSAS 

At Lawrence, Kans., President Roosevelt left his train and 
drove through the crowded streets, where the Haskell Indian 
School pupils and public school children, the state university 
students and members of the Grand Army of the Republic had 
assembled to greet him. He made two speeches at Topeka; 
one was at the laying of the corner stone of the new Y. M. C. A. 
building, and the other at the Auditorium Capitol. Both 
addresses were heard by immense crowds and were received 
with the greatest enthusiasm. The city was profusely deco- 
rated and throngs of people came from the surrounding coun- 
try to assist in doing honor to the nation's PIxecutive. 

At Junction City, Kans., the President made the first refer- 
ence to the army since the report of General Miles, on the 
atrocities in the Philippines, was made public. President 
Roosevelt had among his hearers a number of troops from 
F"ort Riley, who were drawn up about the station. He spoke 
of the fine record of the Kansas soldiers in the Spanish war 
and in the Philippines, and added: 

They have added fresh pages to tne honor roll of the republic by what they have 
done in the Philippines, by the courage and the soldier-like efficiency which they 
have shown in these islands, and by the extraordinary moderation, self-restraint and 
humanity with which they have carried themselves in one of the most difficult and 
one of the most righteous contests ever waged by a civilized nation. 



210 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

INCIDENTS OF THE COLORADO TRIP 

From Sharon Springs, where the President spent Sunday, 
he went to Denver and other points in Colorado. At the 
former place he attended divine service, and as the services 
began, a very pleasing incident occurred, which illustrates 
President Roosevelt's innate kindness of heart. Two little girls 
were standing in the aisle, near the President's pew, and as 
soon as he saw them he drew them to his side, and during the 
singing the three shared the same hymn book. 

The nation's Chief Executive was the guest of the city of 
Denver for two and one-half hours, and the people, regard- 
less of political affiliation, greeted him with a warmth and 
heartiness of welcome not exceeded on his transcontinental 
tour. A military escort was in waiting to receive the Execu- 
tive on his arrival in the city, and Mayor Wright welcomed 
him. He presented the President with a morocco-bound, 
engraved program of his tour through the city and a magnifi- 
cent gold badge bearing the State crest and an appropriate 
inscription. 

SCENES OF ENTHUSIASM IN DENVER 

The throngs in the spacious capitol grounds and the adja- 
cent streets sent up cheer after cheer as the President came 
into view. He was introduced by Governor Peabody and 
spoke for a few minutes, after which the President's party was 
conveyed to the city park. After entering the park, the car- 
riages passed between long rows of school children, who 
waved flags and loudly voiced their pleasure in seeing the first 
citizen of the republic. On the return from the park to the 
depot the scenes of enthusiasm were repeated. 

Over twenty thousand people welcomed the President at 
Colorado Springs. He was escorted to the Antlers Hotel, 



SWINGING AROLND THE CIRCLE 211 

where he addressed a great audience, speaking on the respon- 
sibilities of citizenship. Following the speech the colored 
citizens presented him with a silver medal. At Pueblo the 
President was given a remarkable welcome. At Trinidad he 
appeared on the platform of his car and made a short 
address. 

THE PRESIDENT IN NEW MEXICO 

The first stop after entering New Mexico was at Sante Fe, 
where nearly four hours were consumed. Here he spoke to 
ten thousand people at the Capitol, saying it was a great 
pleasure to him to come to New Mexico, from which Territory 
more than half the members of his regiment came. A brief 
reception was held in the Capitol, after which a drive was 
taken. A stop was made at the church of San Miguel, prob- 
ably the oldest church edifice in the United States, and at the 
Cathedral, where the President stood sponsor for a baby who 
was named after him. 

At Albuquerque the President made a speech, dwelling 
mostly on irrigation and its importance in the development of 
New Mexico. Directly opposite the speaker's stand was a 
tableau presenting New Mexico appealing for admission to 
the Union. Forty-five little girls, dressed in white, repre- 
sented the States, while one of them, on the outside of a gate, 
at which stood Uncle Sam, represented New Mexico. The 
President said that when New Mexico had a little more irriga- 
tion there would be nothing the matter with the girl on the 
outside. 

THE WELCOME AT GRAND CANYON 

Arizona gave President Roosevelt a warm welcome at 
Grand Canyon. After he had greeted many members of his 
old regiment, he mounted a horse and took a twelve-mile 



212 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

ride. Then he returned to the hotel, where he made a brief 
address to the people, paying tribute to the men who served in 
his regiment, among whom was Governor Brodie, who intro- 
duced him. He spoke glowingly of the wonders of the Grand 
Canyon. 

In your interest and the interest of all the country, keep this great wonder of 
nature as it now is. I hope you won't have a building of any kind to mar the won- 
derful grandeur and sublimity of the Canyon. You cannot improve it. The ages 
have been at work on it and man can only mar it. Keep it for your children and 
your children's children, and all who come after you, as one of the great sights for 
Americans to see. 

THE PRESIDENT'S PRAISE OF OALIFORKIA 

The enthusiastic welcome that greeted President Roose- 
velt at each stopping-place within the boundary of California 
reached the climax when the special train arrived at Los 
Angeles, Friday, May 8th. Thousands of people blocked the 
streets on every side. The annual feast of flowers, the chief 
feature of which is the elaborate floral parade, had been 
arranged to coincide with the visit of the President, and he 
was most impressed by the display. 

At Claremont the President spoke to the students of 
Pomona College, and at Pasadena he remained for two hours, 
making a short address and visiting the home of Mrs. James 
A. Garfield. At Redlands, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa 
Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo, the President was 
received with great demonstrations of welcome; at each of 
these places he made speeches, referring in highest terms of 
praise to California, whose rapid development, he said, was 
one of the wonders of the age. He also spoke in glowing 
terms of the fine physique of California children and the great 
destiny awaiting them. 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 213 

A PATHWAY OF FLOWERS 
Sunday he spent in Monterey, and on Monday afternoon 
he arrived in San Jose, where he reviewed the school children 
in front of the McKinley monument in St. James Square. At 
VVatsonville Mr. Roosevelt said the United States must and 
will control the Pacific. Stops were made at Del Monte, 
Pajaro, Santa Clara, Campbell and Santa Cruz. At the latter 
place his carriage was driven through an avenue of thousands 
of school children with waving flags, who for a mile scattered 
flowers along his pathway. 

The banquet at San Francisco, which was held at the Pal- 
ace Hotel, was the culmination of many pleasing incidents. 
The city gave the Chief Magistrate a rousing welcome. 
Through miles and miles of cheering humanity he stood in his 
carriage and bowed his acknowledgment to the enthusiastic 
crowd. 

Before entering his carriage for the parade, which was one 
of the greatest ever witnessed on the Pacific coast, President 
Roosevelt went to the locomotive of his train and shook hands 
with the engineer and fireman, thanking them for having 
brought him through safely. At the banquet Tuesday even- 
ing, Mr. M. H. DeYoung opened the speaking with a welcome 
to the head of the nation and was followed by brief addresses 
from Mayor Schmitz and Governor Pardee. When the Presi- 
dent arose the applause was deafening. He spoke of the need 
of wise legislation, the' honest enforcement of the laws, and 
predicted that the forthcoming Congress would dispose of the 
pressing question relating to banking and currency. 

NEVER HIT SOFT 
On Wednesday the President attended a military review, 
received a rousing welcome from thousands of school children 



214 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

and turned a shovelful of earth for the McKinley monument 
in Golden Gate Park. In his address upon the latter occasion 
the President uttered these words: 

When in iSgS the war, which President McKinley in all honesty and with all 
sincerity sought to avoid, became inevitable and was pressed upon him, he met it as 
he and you had met the crisis of 1861. He did his best to prevent the war. Once it 
became evident it had to come, he did his best to see that it was ended as quickly 
and as thoroughly as possible. It is a good lesson for nations and individuals to 
learn never to hit if it can be helped, but never to hit soft; and I think it is getting 
to be fairly well understood that is our foreign policy. We do not want to threaten ; 
certainly we do not desire to wrong any man. We are going to keep out of trouble 
if we possibly can, but if it becomes necessary for our honor and our interest to assert 
a given position, we shall assert it with every intention of making the assertion 
good. 

At the Mechanics' Pavilion, Wednesday evening, President 
Roosevelt spoke to an enormous audience on the subject of 

EXPANSION AND TRADE DEVELOPMENT 

Before I saw the Pacific slope I was an expansionist, and after having seen it I 
fail to understand how any man, confident of his country's greatness, and glad that 
his country should challenge with proud confidence our mighty future, can be any- 
thing but an expansionist. In the century that is opening, the commerce and the 
progress of the Pacific will be factors of incalculable moment in the history of the 
world. Now in our day the greatest of all the oceans, of all the seas, and the last 
to be used on a large scale by civilized man, bids fair to become in its turn the first 
in point of importance. Our mighty republic has stretched across the Pacific, and 
now in California, Oregon and Washington, in Alaska and Hawaii and the Philip- 
pines, holds an extent of coast line which makes it of necessity a power of the first 
class on the Pacific. 

The extension in the area of our domain has been immense ; the extension in the 
area of our influence even greater. America's geographical position on the Pacific 
is such as to insure our peaceful domination of its waters in the future, if only we 
grasp with su65cient resolution the advantages of this position. We are taking long 
strides in this direction; witness the cables we are laying down and the great 
steamship lines we are starting — steamship lines some of whose vessels are larger 
than any freight carriers the world has yet seen. We have taken the first steps 
toward digging an isthmian canal, which will make our Atlantic and Pacific coast 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 215 

lines to all intent and purpusc continuous, and will add immensely alike to our com- 
mercial and our military and naval strength. 

The inevitable march of events gave us the control of the Philippines at a time 
so opportune that it may without irre\'erence be held providential. Unless we show 
ourselves weak, unless we show ourselves degenerate sons of the sires from whose 
loins we sprang, we must go on with the work that we have begun. 

I earnestly hope that this work will always be peaceful in character. We infi- 
nitely desire peace, and the surest way to obtain it is to show that we are not afraid 
of -war. We should deal in a spirit of fairness and justice with all weaker nations ; 
we should show to the strongest that we are able to maintain our rights. Such 
showing cannot be made by bluster, for bluster merely invites contempt. Let us 
speak courteously, deal fairly and keep ourselves armed and ready. If we do these 
things we can count on the peace that comes only to the just man armed, to the just 
man who neither fears nor inliicts wTong. We must keep on building and maintain- 
ing a thoroughly efficient navy, with plenty of the best and most formidable ships, 
with an ample .supply of officers and of men, and with these officers and men trained 
in the most thorough way to the best possible performance of their duty. Only thus 
can we assure our position in the world at large and in particular our position here on 
the Pacific. 

It behooves all men of lofty soul, who are proud to belong to a mighty nation, to 
see to it that we fit ourselves to take and keep a great position in the world, for our 
proper place is with the expanding nations and the nations that dare to be great, 
that accept with confidence a place of leadership in the world. All our people should 
take this position, but especially you of California, for much of our e.xpansion must 
go through the Golden Gate, and the States of the Pacific slope must inevitably be 
those which would be most benefited by and take the lead in the growth of Ameri- 
can influence along the coasts and islands of that mighty ocean where east and west 
finally become one. 

My countrymen, I believe in you with all my heart, and I am proud that it has 
been granted to me to be a citizen in a nation of such glorious opportunities, and 
with the wisdom, the hardihood and the courage to rise to the level of its oppor- 
tunities. 

When President Roosevelt bade farewell to San Francisco 
he smilingly remarked that the City of the Golden Gate had 
given him everything except sleep. On Thursday the presi- 
dential party participated in the dedication of the monument 
commemorative of Admiral Dewey's victory; attended the 



2i6 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

commencement exercises of the University of California, 
where Mr. Roosevelt received the degree of Doctor of Laws; 
went aboard the torpedo destroyer Paul Jones; laid the corner 
stone for the Y. M. C. A. Club at Vallejo; inspected Mare 
Island navy yards, and wound up the day with a banquet at 
the Union League Club. 

IN A SIERRAN SOLITUDE 

Saturday the presidential party, occapying four wagons, 
entered the Yosemite Valley; but the Chief Executive did not 
accompany the party. The trail which the President followed 
was not made public, but it developed later that he and three 
companions encamped Saturday night near the bank of the 
Merced in a grove of pines and firs, almost in the spray of the 
beautiful Bridal Veil Falls. 

"Just think where I was last night," said the President, the 
following morning. "Up there, amid the pines and silver firs 
in the Sierran solitude — in a snowstorm, too, and without a 
tent. I passed one of the most pleasant nights of my life." 

THROUGH NEVADA AND OREGON 

From Sacramento the President set out on his journey for 
Portland. His trip through Nevada was characterized by 
time-honored Western hospitality. He made several stops, 
and at Reno he met Mr. H. J. Barto, one of the Roosevelt 
Rough Riders, who was with the President in the famous 
charge up San Juan Hill. Ajc Salem, the capital of Oregon, a 
stop of three hours was made, and the President delivered an 
address at the capitol. During his visit to Salem the Execu- 
tive noticed an invalid child lying upon a stretcher beside the 
curbing. He stopped his carriage, alighted and kissed the 
little girl. All along the route to Portland, crowds gathered 
at stations and gave the President an enthusiastic welcome. 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 217 

Stops were made at Ashland and Oregon City. The arrival 
of the presidential train at Portland was heralded by a salute 
of twenty-one guns, and it drew into the station amid the 
cheering of an immense crowd, the din of steam whistles, and 
the playing of bands. The President made two speeches in 
Portland, one at the dedication of the Lewis and Clark monu- 
ment and the other at the Hotel Portland. 

"NEVER DRAW UNLESS YOU MEAN TO SHOOT" 

President Roosevelt entered the State of Washington on 
Friday, and stopped at a number of places, where he made 
speeches. At Tacoma, his first speech was made at Wright 
Park, where he urged that this nation keep on building up its 
navy in preparation for dominating the Pacific. He said: 

I wish to say one word to you here, in this citj- by the Sound, on our foreign 
policy and upon what must be the main prop of any good foreign policy — the Ameri- 
can navy. In the old days, when I first came to the Little Missouri, there was a 
motto on the range, "Never draw unless you mean to shoot." That is a pretty 
sound policy for a nation on foreign affairs. Do not threaten ; do not bluster; do 
not insult other people, above all ; but when you make up your mind the situation is 
such as to require you to take a given position, take it and have it definitely under- 
stood that what you say you are ready to make good. 

"ARE YOU A XJNION MAN?" 

On leaving Wright Park, the Masonic Grand Lodge of 
Washington, together with the Grand Commandery Knights 
Templars and the Commanderies of Tacoma and Seattle, 
escorted the Executive to the site of the Masonic Temple, 
where he laid the corner stone. When the President stepped 
down from the platform he shook hands with the mason who 
handed him the trowel, and who asked: "Are you a union 
man?" The President quickly replied, "Yes, I am working 
overtime on this." After visiting Seattle, Walla Walla, Wal- 



2i8 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

lula, Pasco, Yakima and Ellensburg, the President went to the 
Coeur d' Alene mining camp in northern Idaho, from which 
point he doubled back into Washington to return to Spokane, 
where large crowds greeted him. Stops were next made at 
Montana City, and at Wallace, Idaho, where, in spite of the 
fact that rain was pouring heavily, fully ten thousand persons 
thronged the streets. The President then continued on his 
way, making a brief address at Harrison, Idaho, from the rear 
platform of his car. 

IN MONTANA AND IDAHO 

On Wednesday night, in Butte, Mont., President Roose- 
velt, in a speech to twenty thousand persons, threw down the 
gage of battle to the trusts. The President was the guest of 
the Labor and Trades Assembly of Silver Bow County. As the 
President was leaving the platform a secret service man 
shoved aside a militia man. The President censured him and 
shook hands with the man, remarking that any one in the 
uniform of a United States soldier was his friend. At Helena, 
in the morning, the President met many old-time Western 
friends. One of the first persons he inquired about was John 
Willis, a hunter and trapper, with whom he had camped years 
before. 

The keynote to President Roosevelt's speech in Pocatello, 
Idaho, delivered on Friday, May 28th, was justice to the 
Indians. He said that the race was making progress in edu- 
cation and in the efforts to own property. Short stops were 
made during the day at Shoshone, Glen's Ferry, Mountain 
Home, Kimana and Nampa, and at each place he was greeted 
by cheering crowds. He reached Boise City in the afternoon 
and left shortly afterwards for Salt Lake City. 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 219 

SALT LAKE OITY WELCOMES THE PRESIDENT 

At the latter place he received an enthusiastic welcome, 
arriving at 8:30 Friday morning amid the clamor of loco- 
motive and factory whistles, shrill yells of cattle punchers and 
sheep men, and the enthusiastic cheering of several thousand 
persons congregated along the streets. Preceding the Presi- 
dent's carriage was an escort of mounted police, while fifty 
Rough Riders, splendidly mounted, and in typical plainsman's 
attire, acted as a special escort. 

Bringing up the rear of the long procession were nearly six 
hundred mounted cow punchers, many of them having come 
over one hundred and fifty miles of rough trails to greet the 
President. The sunburned, brawny plainsmen in their som- 
breros and blue shirts formed the most picturesque part of the 
parade, and the President rose in his carriage and bowed in 
response to their wild cheering. Over nine thousand children 
greeted the President as he stepped from his carriage and 
mounted a platform. After speaking a few moments to the 
little ones, the Chief Executive reviewed the long parade, and 
then, reentering his carriage, was driven to the Tabernacle, 
where an immense audience had assembled. 

At Ogden the nation's chief was greeted by thousands 
gathered from all the counties of northern Utah. At a pavil- 
ion, in the public square, he made a brief address, after which 
he was driven to his train. His next stop was Evanston, 
Wyo., where he was given an ovation. President Roosevelt 
arrived at Laramie at 7:30, Saturday morning, and was driven 
to the University of Wyoming, where he made a short 
address. About nine o'clock he mounted his horse and 
started on a sixty-mile ride to Cheyenne, arriving at that city 
about 5:30 p. m. The President spent Sunday in Cheyenne. 



220 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

A TYPICAL WYOMING RECEPTION 

On Monday, June ist, a Wild West exhibition was given in 
his honor. The first event was the presentation to the Presi- 
dent of a- beautiful horse and a complete .riding outfit. The 
present was the gift of the people of Cheyenne and Douglas. 
The President responded in a happy vein, saying that it was 
the best riding animal he had been astride, and asked permis- 
sion to rechristen the animal Wyoming. 

At the conclusion of the wild horse race, which was the 
next feature, President Roosevelt remarked to Secretary 
Wilson, who was present: 

"That is the finest exhibition I ever witnessed. Whenever 
Uncle Sam again needs cavalrymen, these are the men we 
want." 

A dozen wild-eyed Texas steers were next turned loose and 
roped; then followed an exhibition of rough riding. The 
worst outlaw horses on Wyoming ranches were ridden by 
Thad Souden, champion rough rider of the world, and others. 
The climax was reached when "Teddy Roosevelt," terror of 
Wyoming ranges for many years, was brought out. 

The President made but a short stop between Cheyenne 
and North Platte, Neb., and that was at Sidney, where he 
delivered a short address, entering Iowa at Council Bluffs 
early Tuesday morning. At Webster City and Iowa Falls 
brief halts were made, and at Cedar Rapids President Roose- 
velt addressed five thousand people from the car platform, 
speaking particularly to the normal school pupils. Brief stops 
were also made at Independence and Manchester. The presi- 
dential special then proceeded to Dubuque. Here, after a 
drive about the hills overlooking the Mississippi and a short 
speech to six thousand school children, the President drove to 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 221 

the Dubuque Club, where he addressed an immense crowd and 
was banqueted. 

ARRIVAL IN ILLINOIS 

President Roosevelt reached Illinois on Wednesday morn- 
ing. His first stop was at Freeport, the second at Rockford, 
the third at Rochelle and next came Aurora. After Aurora, 
joliet and the steel works gave him welcome. Dwight was 
next on the itinerary, then Pontiac, next Lexington, and last 
Bloomington, where he passed the night. At Aurora, noticing 
a khaki wearer in the crowd, he called him comrade, and then 
briefly talked on the importance of the army having the most 
up-to-date weapons. In the course of his speech he said: 

A weak man with a poor gun will beat a good man with a club every time. 

At Freeport the President attended the unveiling of the 
monument commemorating the Lincoln-Douglas debate in 
1858. 

AT THE TOMB OF LINCOLN 

Thursday morning, at the tomb of Abraham Lincoln, in 
Springfield, which was encircled by a corps of colored militia- 
men, President Roosevelt said among other things: 

It was my good fortune at Santiago to serve beside the colored troops. A man 
who is good enough to shed his blood for his country, is good enough to be given a 
square deal afterwards. 

The President's visit to Lincoln's tomb was one of several 
of Springfield's efforts to show the Chief Magistrate due 
homage. The city was decorated; excursion trains had 
brought thousands of out-of-town visitors; there was a splen- 
did military procession, and a speech in the new Arsenal 
Building. At the latter place the immense crowd gave the 
President an enthusiastic ovation, which continued for several 
minutes. After luncheon in the executive mansion, the Presi- 



222 SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 

dent was driven to his train, where a great throng were wait- 
ing to wish him Godspeed. He stood on the back platform, 
waved his hands many times and wished good luck to the 
people. 

There is little more to be said of the President's transcon- 
tinental tour. In Decatur some thirty thousand persons saw 
and heard him; at Danville and Lincoln he was given the 
same rousing reception that he received in other cities, and at 
Indianapolis there was a burst of cheers when the President 
appeared upon the platform in front of the station. Expan- 
sion was the theme of his speech in this city, and at the close 
of his address he was escorted to his train amid the thunder- 
ing acclamations of the people. 

HOME AOAIN 

Promptly at seven o'clock, Friday, June 5th, the train, 
bearing the President and his party, arrived at Washington, 
and the trip of fourteen thousand miles, during which he made 
265 addresses, was ended. The President was given a hearty 
reception by the citizens, who lined the sidewalks as his car- 
riage, escorted by a battalion of high school cadets, was driven, 
to the White House. The run from Pittsburg to Washington 
was without incident, none but necessary stops were made, 
and the only speech by the President was at Altoona. To the 
crowd surrounding his car he said: 

Gentlemen : I am pleased to see you ; I have been on a journey across the con- 
tinent from the Atlantic to the Pacific and now am back again. The thing that 
pleased me most was the substantial unity of Americans; wherever he goes — East or 
West — the President of the United States is at home among his fellow Americans. 

The President, upon his arrival at the White House, walked 
from the north entrance to the south portico and spoke to a 



SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE 223 

large crowd that had gathered upon the lawn hstening to the 
marine band, while waiting his coming. He said: 

I did not know there were so many people in Washington. I appreciate the 
welcome you have given me and I am glad to be back with you. I hope, however, 
that I may be excused, for you know my family is awaiting me and I want to be 
with them. 

The President then withdrew and, surrounded by his fam- 
ily, had dinner. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

Elihu Root Made Chairman — A Remarkable Speech — Difficult Problems — 
Will of the People Must Govern — Assurance of Good Government — 
Candidates of Proved Competency — Past Achievements — Sound Cur. 
rency — Trust Regulations — Practical Laws — Trade Doubled — The 
Isthmian Canal — Monroe Doctrine Upheld — Army and Navy Strength- 
ened—Tribute to Roosevelt. 

The first session of the RepubUcan National Convention 
was called to order in the Coliseum, Chicago, at 12.14, Tuesday, 
June 21, 1904, by Postmaster General Henry C. Payne, acting 
chairman of the national committee. 

The call for the convention, dated from Washington, Janu- 
ary i6th, and signed by Senator Hanna.was then read. When 
the reading clerk reached the name of Senator Hanna the 
applause was loud and prolonged. Chairman Payne then 
said, "The Republican National Committee has selected for 
your temporary chairman Elihu Root of New York, and pre- 
sents his name for your acceptance." 

Governor Odell of New York then moved that the action 
of the national committee in the selection of the temporary 
chairman be approved. The motion was unanimously car- 
ried and Temporary Chairman Root was Introduced. He 
addressed the convention as follows: 

TBMPORABY CHAIRMAN ROOT'S ADDRESS 

The responsibility of government rests upon the Republican party. The com- 
plicated machinery through which the eighty million people of the United States 

224 




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■a o I 



T) o 



° _ 




. S 5 



■ ^ -= 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 225 

govern themselves answers to no single will. The composite government devised by 
the framers of the constitution to meet the conditions of national life more than a 
century ago requires the willing cooperations of many minds, the combination of 
many independent factors, in every forward step for the general welfare. 

The president at Washington with his cabinet, the ninety senators representing 
forty-five sovereign States, the 386 representatives in Congress, are required to reach 
concurrent action upon a multitude of questions involving varied and conflicting 
interests and requiring investigation, information, discussion, and reconciliation of 
views. From all over our vast territory, mth its varieties of climate and industry-, 
from all our great population, active in production and commerce and social prog- 
ress and intellectual and moral life to a degree never before attained by any people- 
difficult problems press upon the national government. 

WILL OF THE PEOPLE MUST GOVERN 

Within the last five years more than sixty-six thousand bills have been intro- 
duced in Congress. Some method of selection must be followed. There must be 
some preliminary process to ascertain the general tenor of public judgment upon the 
principles to be applied in government, and some organization and recognition of 
leadership which shall bring a legislative majority and the executive into accord in 
the practical application of those principles; or efifective government becomes 
impossible. 

The practical governing instinct of our people has adapted the machinerj- 
devised in the eighteenth to the conditions of the twentieth centuiy by the organiza- 
tion of national political parties. In them men join for the promotion of a few car- 
dinal principles upon which they agree. For the sake of those principles they lay 
aside their differences upon less important questions. To represent those principles 
and to carry on the government in accordance with them, they present to the people 
candidates whose competency and loyalty they approve. The people by their choice 
of candidates indicate the principles and methods which they wish followed in the 
conduct of their government. They do not merely choose between men; they 
choose between parties— between the principles they profess, the methods they fol- 
low, the trustworthiness of their professions, the inferences to be drawn from the 
records of their past, the general weight of character of the body of men who will be 
brought into participation in government by their ascendency. 

EPOCH IN THE LIFE OF THE PARTY 

When the course of the next administration is but half-done the Republican 
party will have completed the first half-century of its national life. Of the eleven 
administrations since the first election of Abraham Lincoln, nine— covering a period 



226 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

of tl]irty-six years— have been under Republican presidents. For the greater part of 
that time, the majority in each house of Congress has been Republican. History 
affords no parallel in any age or country for the growth in national greatness and 
power and honor, the wide diffusion of the comforts of life, the uplifting of the great 
mass of the people above the hard conditions of poverty, the common opportunity 
for education and individual advancement, the universal possession of civil and relig- 
ious liberty, the protection of property and security of the rewards of industry and 
enterprise, the cultivation of national morality, respect for religion, sympathy with 
humanity, and love of liberty and justice, which have marked the life of the Ameri- 
can people during this long period of Republican control. 

ASKS CONTINUANCE OF CONFIDENCE 

With the platform and the candidates of this convention we are about to ask a 
renewed expression of popular confidence in the Republican party. 

We shall ask it because the principles to which we declare our adherence are 
right, and the best interests of our country require that they should be followed in its 
government. 

We shall ask it because the unbroken record of the Republican party in the past 
is an assurance of the sincerity of our declarations and the iidelity with which we 
shall give them effect. Because we have been constant in principle, loyal to our 
beliefs, and faithful to our promises we are entitled to be believed and trusted now. 

PARTY OHARACTEE IS ASSURANCE 

We shall ask it because the character of the party gives assurance of good gov- 
ernment. A great political organization, competent to govern, is not a chance col- 
lection of individuals brought together for the moment as the shifting sands are piled 
up by wind and sea, to be swept away, to be formed and re-formed agam. It is a 
growth. Traditions and sentiments reaching down through struggles of years gone, 
and the stress and heat of old conflicts and the influence of leaders passed away, 
and the ingrained habit of applying fixed rules of interpretation and of thought — all 
give to a political party known and inalienable qualities from which must follow in 
its deliberate judgment and ultimate action like results for good or bad government. 

We do not deny that other parties have in their membership men of morality 
: ::d patriotism: but we assert with confidence that above all others, by the influences 
hich gave it birth and have maintained its life, by the causes for which it has 
striven, the ideals which it has followed, the Republican party as a party has 
acquired a character which makes its ascendency the best guarantee of a government 
loyal to principle and effective in execution. Through it more than any other polit- 
ical organization the moral sentiment of America finds expression. It cannot dfipart 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 227 

from the direction of its tendencies. From what it has been may be known cer- 
tainly what it must be. Not all of us rise to its standard; not all of us are worthy 
of its glorious history; but as a whole this great political organization— the party of 
Lincoln and McKinley— cannot fail to work in the spirit of its past and in loyalty to 
great ideals. 

CANDIDATES OF PROVED COMPETENCY 

We shall ask the continued confidence of the people because the candidates 
whom we present are of proved competency aud patriotism, fitted to fill the offices 
for which they are nominated to the credit and honor of our country. 

We shall ask it because the present policies of our government are beneficial and 
ought not to be set aside; and tlie people's business is being well done and ought 
not to be interfered with. 

Have not the American people reason for satisfaction and pride in the conduct 
of their government since the election of igoo, when they rendered their judgment 
of approval upon the first administration of President IMcKinley? Have we not had 
an honest government? Have not the men selected for office been men of good 
reputation, who by their past lives had given evidence that they were honest and 
competent? Can any private business be pointed out in which lapses from honesty 
have been so few and so trifling proportionately as in the public service of the 
United States? And when they have occurred have not the offenders been relent- 
lessly prosecuted and sternly punished without regard to political or jjersonal 
relations? 

POINTS TO PAST ACHIEVEMENTS 

Have we not had an effective government? Have not the laws been enforced? 
Has not the slow process of legislative discussion upon many serious questions been 
brought to practical conclusions, embodied in beneficial statutes? And has not the 
executive proceeded without vacillation or weakness to give these effect? Are not 
the laws of the United States obeyed at home, and does not our government com- 
mand respect and honor throughout the world? 

Have we not had a safe and conservative government? Has not property been 
protected? Are not the fruits. of enterprise and industry secure? What safeguard of 
the constitution for vested right or individual freedom has not been scrupulously 
observed? When has any American administration ever dealt more con.sidoiately 
and wisely with questions which might have been the cause of conflict with foreign 
powers? When have more just settlements been reached by peaceful means? When 
has any administration wielded a more powerful influence for peace? And when 
have we rested more secure in friendship with all mankind? 



228 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

BURDENSOME TAXES REMOVED 

Four years ago the business of the country was loaded with burdensome internal 
taxes imposed during the war with Spain. By the acts of March 2, iqoi, and April 
12, 1902, the country has been wholly relieved of that annual burden of over $100,- 
000,000; and the further accumulation of a surplus which was constantly withdraw- 
ing the money of the country from circulation has been prevented by the reduction 
of taxation. 

Between June 30, 1900, and June i, 1904, our treasury department collected in 
revenues the enormous sum of $2,203,000,000 and expended $2,028,000,000, leaving 
us with a surplus of over $170,000,000, after paying the $50,000,000 for the Panama 
Canal and loaning $4,600,000 to the St. Louis Exposition. Excluding those two 
extraordinary payments, which are investments from past surplus and not expendi- 
tures of current income, the surplus for this year will be the reasonable amount of 
about $12,000,000. 

CURRENCY ON A STABLE BASIS 

The vast and complicated transactions of the treasury, which for the last fiscal 
year show actual cash receipts of $4,250,290,262 and disbursements of $4,113,199,414, 
have been conducted with perfect accuracy and fidelity, and without the loss of a 
dollar. Under wise management, the financial act of March 14, igoo, which 
embodied the sound financial principles of the Republican party and provided for 
the maintenance of our currency on the stable basis of the gold standard, has 
wrought out beneficial results. 

On the ist of November, 1S99. the interest-bearing debt of the United States 
was $1,046,049,020. On the ist of May last the amount of that debt was $895,157,440, 
a reduction of $150,891,580. By refunding, the annual interest has been still more 
rapidly reduced from $40,347,884 on the ist of November, 1S99, to $24,176,745 on 
the ist of June, 1904, an annual saving of o\'er $i6.nno,ooo. 

BANKING FACILITIES INCREASED 

When the financial act was passed the thinly settled portions of our country 
were suffering for lack of banking facilities, because the banks were in the large 
towns, and none could be organized with a capital of less than $50,000. Under the 
provisions of that act there were organized down to the ist of May last, 1,296 small 
banks of $25,000 capital, furnishing, under all the safeguards of the national banking 
system, facilities to the small communities of the West and South. The facilities 
made possible by that act have increased the circulation of national banks from 
$254,402,730 on the 14th of March, 1900, to $445,988,565 on the ist of June, 1904. 

The money of the country in circulation has not only increased in amount with 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 229 

our growth in business, but it has steadily gained in the stability of the basis on 
which it rests. On the ist of March. rSg?, when the first administration of McKinley 
began, we had in the country-, including bullion in the treasury, Si. 806, 272,076. This 
was $23.14 per capita for our population, and of this 38.893 per cent was gold. On 
the ist of March. 1901, when the second administration of McKinley began, the 
money in the country was $2,467,295,228. This was $2.8.34 per capita, and of this 
45.273 per cent was gold. On the ist of May last the money in the country was ' 
$2,814,985,446, which was 1531.02 per capita, and of it 48.028 per cent was gold.J 

FINANCES ARE WISELY ORDERED 

This g^reat increase of currency has been arranged in such a way that the large 
government notes in circulation are gold certificates, while the silver certificates and 
greenbacks are of small denominations. As the large gold certificates represent 
gold actually on deposit, their presentation at the treasury iti exchange for gold can 
never infringe upon the gold reserve. As the small silver certificates and green- 
backs are always in active circulation, no large amount of them can be accumulated 
for the purpose of drawing on the gold reserve ; and thus, while every man can get a 
gold dollar for every dollar of the government's currency, the endless chain which 
we were once taught to fear so much, has been eflfectively put out of business. 

The secretary of the treasury has shown himself mindful of the needs of busi- 
ness and has so managed our finances as himself to expand and contract our cur- 
rency as occasion has required. When in the fall of 1902 the demand for funds to 
move the crops caused extraordinary money stringency, the secretary exercised his 
lawful right to accept State and municipal bonds as security for public deposits, thus 
liberating United States bonds, which were used for additional circulation. When 
the crops were moved and the stringency was over he called for a withdrawal of the 
State and municipal securities, and thus contracted the currency. Again, in 1903, 
under similar conditions, he produced similar results. The payment of the S50,- 
000,000 for the Panama Canal, made last month without causing the slightest disturb- 
ance in finance, showed good judgment, and a careful consideration of the interests 
of business upon which our people may confidently rely. 

TELLS OF TRUST REGULATION 

Four years ago the regulation by law of the great corporate combinations called 
"trusts" stood substantially where it was when the Sherman anti-trust act of 1890. 
was passed. President Cleveland, in his last message of December, 1896, had 
said: 

"Though Congress has attempted to deal with this matter by legislation, the 
laws passed for that purpose thus far have proved ineffective, not because of any 



230 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

'ack of disposition or attempt to enforce them, but simply because the laws them- 
selves as interpreted by the courts do not reach the difficulty. If the insufficiencies 
of existing laws can be remedied by further legislstion, it should be done. The fact 
must be recognized, however, that all federal legislation on this subject may fall 
short of its purpose because of inherent obstacles and also because of the complex 
character of our governmental system, which, while making federal authority 
supreme within its sphere, has carefully limited that sphere by metes and bounds 
that cannot be transgressed." 

At everj' election the regulation of trusts had been the football of campaign ora- 
tory, and the subject of many insincere declarations. 

QUOTES MESSAGE OF ROOSEVELT 

Our Republican administration has taken up the subject in a practical, sensible 
way, as a business rather than a political question, saying what it really meant, and 
doing what lay at its hand to be done to accomplish effective regulation. The prin- 
ciples upon which the government proceeded were stated by the President in his 
message of December, igo2. He said: 

"A fundamental base of civilization is the inviolability of property; but this is in 
no wise inconsistent with the right of society to regulate the exercise of the artificial 
powers which it confers upon the owners of property, under the name of corporate 
franchises, in such a way as to prevent the misuse of these powers. . . . 

"We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervising these 
corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the corpora- 
tions, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to 
them ; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the 
public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth. . . . 

"In curbing and regulating the combinations of capital which are or may 
become injurious to the public we must be careful not to stop the great enterprises 
which have legitimately reduced the cost of production, not to abandon the place 
which our country has won in the leadership of the international industrial world, 
not to strike down wealth with the result of closing factories and mines, of turning 
the wage-worker idle in the streets, and leaving the farmer without a market for 
what he grows. . . . 

"I believe that monopolies, unjust discriminations, which prevent or cripple 
competition, fraudulent over-capitalization, and other evils in trust organizations, and 
practices which injuriously affect interstate trade, can be prevented under the power 
of the Congress to 'regulate commerce with foreign nations and among the several 
States,' through regulations and requirements operating directly upon such com- 
merce, the instrumentalities thereof, and those engaged therein." 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 231 

PRACTICAL LAWS ARE APPLIED 

After long consideration, Congress passed three practical statutes; ontlieiith 
of February, igo.i, an act to expedite hearings in suits in enforcement of the anti- 
trust act; on the 14th of February, igo3, the act creating a new department of com' 
merce and labor, with a bureau of corporations, having authority to secure systematic 
information regarding the organization and operation of corporations engaged in 
interstate commerce ; and on the igth of February, 1903, an act enlarging the powers 
of the interstate commerce commission and of the courts, to deal with secret rebates 
in transportation charges, which are the chief means by which the trusts crush out 
their smaller competitors. 

The attorney-general has gone on in the same practical way, not to talk about 
the trusts, but to proceed against the trusts by law for their regulation. In separate 
suits fourteen of the great railroads of the country have been restrained by injunc- 
tion from giving illegal rebates to the favored shippers, who by means of them were 
driving out the smaller shippers and monopolizing the grain and meat business of the 
country. The beef trust was put under injunction. The officers of the railroads 
engaged in the cotton carrying pool, aflfecting all that great industry of the South, 
were indicted and have abandoned their combination. The Northern Securities 
Company, which undertook by combining in one ownership the capital stocks of the 
Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads to end traffic competition in the 
Northwest, has been destroyed by a vigorous prosecution expedited and brought to 
a speedy and effective conclusion in the Supreme Court under the act of February 
II, 1903. 

QUOTES FROM ATTORNEY-GENERAL 

The attorney -general says ; 

"Here, then, are four phases of the attack on the combinations in restraint of 
trade and commerce — the railroad injunction suits, the cotton pool cases, the beef 
trust cases, and the Northern Securities case. The first relates to the monopoly 
produced by secret and preferential rates for railroad transportation; the second, to 
railroad traffic pooling; the third, to a combination of independent corporations to 
fix and maintain extortionate prices for meats; and the fourth, to a corporation 
organized to merge into itself the control of parallel and competing lines of railroad 
and to eliminate competition in their rates of transportation." 

The right of the interstate commerce commission to compel the production of 
books and papers has been established by the judgment of the Supreme Court in a 
suit against the coal carrying roads. Other suits have been brought and other indict- 
ments have been found, and other trusts have been driven back within legal bounds. 
No investment in lawful business has been jeopardized, no fair and honest enter- 



232 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

prise has been injured ; but it is certain that wherever the constitutional power of 
the national government reaches, trusts are being practically regulated and curbed 
within lawful bounds as they never have been before, and the men of small capital 
are finding in the efficiency and skill of the national department of justice a protec- 
tion they never had before against the crushing effect of unlawful combinations. 

PUBLIC LAND PRESENTS PROBLEM 

We have at last reached a point where the public wealth of farm land which has 
seemed so inexhaustible is nearly gone, and the problem of utilizing the remainder 
for the building of new homes has become of vital importance. 

The present administration has dealt with this problem vigorously and effect- 
ively. Great areas had been unlawfully fenced in by men of large means, and the 
home builder had been excluded. Many of these unlawful aggressors have been 
compelled to relinquish their booty, and more than 2,000,000 acres of land have been 
restored to the public. Extensive frauds in procuring grants of land, not for home- 
steads but for speculation, have been investigated and stopped, and the perpetrators 
have been indicted and are being actively piosecuted. 

RECLAMATION WORK SYSTEMATIZED 

A competent commission has been constituted to examine into the defective 
working of the existing lav^s and to suggest practical legislation to prevent further 
abuse. That commission has reported, and bills adequate to accomplish the purpose 
have been framed and are before Congress. The further denudation of forest areas, 
producing alternate floods and dr>-ness in our river valleys, has been checked by the 
extension of forest reserves, which have been brought to aggregate more than 
63,000,000 acres of land. The reclamation by irrigation of the vast arid regions 
forming the chief part of our remaining public domain, has been provided for by the 
national reclamation law of June 17, 1903. 

The execution of this law, without taxation and by the application of the pro- 
ceeds of public land sales alone, through the construction of storage reservoirs for 
water, will make many millions of acres of fertile lands available for settlement. 
Over $20,000,000 from these sources have been already received to the credit of the 
reclamation fund. Over 33,000,000 acres of public lands in fourteen States and 
Territories have been embraced in the sixty-seven projects which have been devised 
and are under examination, and on eight of these the work of actual construction 

has begun. 

POSTAL SERVICE IS IMPROVED 

The postal service has been extended and improved. Its revenues have 
increased from §76,000,000 in 1895 to §95,000.000 in 1899, and ^5144. 000,000 in 1904. 
In dealing with these vast sums a few cases of peculation, trifling in amount and by 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 233 

subordinate officers, have occurred there, as they occur in every business. Neitlier 
fear nor favor, nor political or personal influence has availed to protect the wrong- 
doers. Their acts have been detected, investigated, laid bare; they have been dis- 
missed from their places, prosecuted criminally, indicted, many of them tried, and 
many of them convicted. The abuses in the carriage of second-class mail matter 
have been remedied. 

The rural free delivery has been widely extended. It is wholly the creation of 
Republican administration. The last Democratic postmaster-general declared it 
impracticable. The first administration of McKinley proved the contrary. At the 
beginning of the fiscal year iSgg there were about 200 routes in operation. There 
are now more than 25,000 routes, bringing a daily mail service to more than 12,000,- 
000 of our people in the rural communities, enlarging the circulation of the news- 
paper and the magazine, increasing communication, and relieving the isolation of 
life on the farm. 

GIVES HELP TO THE FARMERS 

The department of agriculture has been brought to a point of efficiency and 
practical benefit never before known. The oleomargarine act of May 9, igo2, now 
sustained in the Supreme Court, and the act of July i, igo2, to prevent the false 
branding of food and dairy products, protect farmers against fraudulent imitations. 
The act of February 2, 1903, enables the secretary of agriculture to prevent the 
spread of contagious and infectious diseases of live stock. Rigid inspection has pro- 
tected our cattle against infection from abroad, and has established the highest credit 
for our meat products in the markets of the world. The earth has been searched for 
weapons with which to fight the enemies that destroy the growing crops. 

An insect brought from near the Great Wall of China has checked the San Jose 
scale, which was destroying our orchards ; a parasitic fly brought from South Africa 
is exterminating the black scale in the lemon and orange groves of California; and 
an ant from Guatemala is about offering battle to the boll weevil. Broad science 
has been brought to the aid of limited experience. Study of the relations between 
plant life and climate and soil has been followed by the introduction of special crops 
suited to our varied conditions. 

SCIENCE ADDS TO CROP YIELD 

The introduction of just the right kind of seed has enabled the Gulf States to 
increase our rice crop from 115,000,000 pounds in 1898 to 400,000,000 pounds in igjj, 
and to supply the entire American demand, with a surplus for export. The right 
kind of sugar beet has increased our annual production of beet sugar by over 200,000 
tons. Seed brought from countries of little rainfall is producing millions of bushe'.s 
of grain on lands which a few years ago were deemed a hopeless part of the arid belt. 



234 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

The systematic collection and publication of information regarding the magni- 
tude and conditions of our crops is mitigating the injury done by speculation to the 
farmer's market. 

To increase the profit of the farmer's toil, to protect the farmer's product and 
extend his market, and to improve the conditions of the farmer's life ; to advance 
the time when America shall raise within her own limits e\'ery product of the soil 
consumed by her own people, as she makes within her own limits every necessary 
product of manufacture — these have been cardinal objects of Republican administra- 
tion ; and we show a record of practical things done toward the accomplishment of 
these objects never before approached. 

PLEDGE GIVEN TO CUBA KEPT 

Four years ago we held the island of Cuba by military occupation. The opposi- 
tion charged, and the people of Cuba believed, that we did not intend to keep the 
pledge of April 20, 1S98, that when the pacification of Cuba was accomplished we 
should leave the government and control of the island to its people. The new policy 
towards Cuba which should follow the fulfillment of that pledge was unformed. 
During the four years it has been worked out in|detail and has received effect. It was 
communicated by executive order to the military governor. It was embodied in the 
act of Congress known as the Piatt amendment. It was accepted by the Cuban con- 
stitutional convention on the 12th of October, 1901. It secured to Cuba her liberty 
and her independence, but it required her to maintain them. It forbade her ever to 
use the freedom we had earned for her by so great a sacrifice of blood and treasure 
to give the island to any other power; it required her to maintain a government ade- 
quate for the protection of life and property and liberty, and should she fail, it gave 
us the right to intervene for the maintenance of such a government. And it gave us 
the right to naval stations upon her coast for the protection and defense alike of 
Cuba and the United States. 

NE'W REPUBLIC FOSTERED 

On the 20th of May, 1002, under a constitution which embodied these stipulations, 
the government and control of Cuba were surrendered to the president and congress 
elected by her people, and the American army sailed away. The new republic 
began its existence with an administration of Cubans completely organized in all its 
branches and trained to effective service by American officers. The administration 
of President Palma has been wise and efficient. Peace and order have prevailed. 
The people of Cuba are prosperous and happy. Her finances have been honestly 
administered and her credit is high. 

The naval stations have been located and bounded at Guantanamo and Bahia 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 235 

Honda, and are in possession of our navy. Tht- Piatt amendment is tlic slieet 
anchor of Cuban independence and of Cuban credit. No such revolutions as have 
afflicted Central and South America are possible there, because it is known to all 
men that an attempt to overturn the foundations of that government will be con- 
fronted by the overwhelming power of the United States. 

HOLD THE CONFIDENCE OF CUBANS 

The treaty of reciprocity and the act of Congres'; of December 6, 1903, which 
confirmed it, completed the expression of our policy towards Cuba; which, with a 
far view to the future, aims to bind to us by ties of benefit and protection, of mutual 
interest and genuine friendship, that island which guards the Caribbean and t'le 
highway to the isthmus, and must always be, if hostile, an outpost of attack, and, if 
friendly, an outpost of defense for the United States. Rich as we are, the American 
people have no more valuable possession than the sentiment expressed in the dis- 
patch which I will now read : 

"Havana, May 20, 1902. — Theodore Roosevelt, President, Washington: The 
government of the island having been just transferred, I, as chief magistrate of the 
republic, faithfully interpreting the sentiment of the whole people of Cuba, have the 
honor to send you and the American people testimony of our profound gratitude and 
the assurance of an enduring friendship, with wishes and prayers to the Almighty 
for the welfare and prosperity of the United States. 

"T. Estrada Palm a." 

PEACE ACHIEVED IN PHILIPPINES 

When the last national convention met, the Philippines also were under military 
rule. The insurrectos from the mountains spread terror among the peaceful people 
by midnight foray and secret assassination. Aguinaldo bided his time in a secret 
retreat. Over seventy thousand American soldiers from more than five hundred 
stations held a still vigorous enemy in check. The Philippine commission had not 
yet begun its work. 

The last vestige of the insurrection has been swept away. With their work 
accomplished, over 55,000 American troops have been brought back across the Pa- 
cific Civil government has been established throughout the archipelago. Peace and 
order and justice prevail. The Philippine commission, guided at first by executive 
order, and then by the wise legislation of Congress in the Philippine government act 
of July I, 1902, have established and conducted a government which has been a 
credit to their country and a blessing to the people of the islands. The body of laws 
which they have enacted, upon careful and intelligent study of the needs of the 
country, challenges comparison with the statutes of any country. 



236 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

GOOD GOVERNMENT IN THE ISLANDS 

The personnel of civil government has been brouglit together under an advanced 
and comprehenKive civil service law, which has been rigidly enforced. A complete 
census has been taken, designed to be there, as it was in Cuba, the basis for repre- 
sentative government; and the people of the islands will soon proceed, under provi- 
sions already made by Congress, to the election of a representative assemblv, in 
which, for the first time in their history, they may have a voice in the making of 
their own laws. In the meantime the local and provincial governments are in the 
hands of officers elected by the Filipinos; and in the great central offices, in the 
commission, on the bench, in the executive departments, the most distinguished 
men of the Filipino race are taking their part in the government of their people. 

A free school system has been established and hundreds of thou.sands of children 
are learning lessons which will help fit them for self-government. The seeds of 
religious strife existing in the bitter controversy between the people and the relig- 
ious orders have been deprived of potency for harm by the purchase of the friars' 
lands, and their practical withdrawal. By the act of Congress of March 2, IQ03, a 
gold standard has been established to take the place of the fluctuating silver cur- 
rency. The unit of value is made exactly one-half the value of the American gold 
dollar, so that American money is practically part of their currency system. To 
enable the Philippine government to issue this new currency, .^6,000,000 was bor- 
rowed by them in 1903 in the city of New York, and it was borrowed at a net raterest 
charge of 1% per cent per annum. The trade of the islands has increased, notwith- 
standing adverse conditions. 

TRADE ALMOST DOUBLED 

During the last five years of peace under Spanish rule, the average total trade 
of the islands was less than $36,000,000. During the fiscal year ending June 30' 
1903, the trade of the islands was over 866,000,000. There is but one point of dis- 
turbance, and that is in the country- of the Mohammedan Moros, where there is an 
occasional fitful savage outbreak against the enforcement of the law recently made 
to provide for adequate supervision and control and to put an end to the practice of 
human slavery. 

When Governor Taft sailed from Manila in December last to fill the higher 
office where he will still guard the destinies of the people for whom he has done 
such great and noble service, he was followed to the shore by a mighty throng, not 
of repressed and sullen subjects, but of free and peaceful people, whose tears and 
prayers of affectionate farewell showed that they had already begun to learn that 
"our flag has not lost its gift of benediction in its world-wide journey to their 
shores. ' ' 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 237 

None can foretell the future ; but there seems no reasonable cause to doubt that 
under the poUcy already effectively inaugurated, the ia^titutions already implanted, 
and the process already begun, in the Philippine islands, if these be not repressed and 
interrupted, the Philippine people will follow in the footsteps of the people of Cuba; 
that more slowly indeed, because they are not as advanced, yet as surely, they will 
grow in capacity for self-government, and receiving power ;;s they grow in capacity, 
will come to bear substantially such relations to the people of the United States as do 
now the people of Cuba, differing in details as conditions and needs differ, but the 
same in principle and the same in beneficent results. 

CANAL PROBLEM IS SOLVED 

In igoo the project of an isthmian canal stood where it was left by the Clayton- 
Bulwer treaty of 1850. For half a century it had halted, with Gre.it Britain resting 
upon a joint right of control, and the great undertaking of De Lesseps struggling 
against the doom of failure imposed by extravagance and corruption. On the i8th of 
November, iqoi, the Hay-Pauncefote treaty with Great Britain relieved the enter- 
prise of the right of Briti.sh control and left that right exclusively in the United 
States. 

Then followed swiftly the negotiations and protocols with Nicaragua; the 
isthmian canal act of June 2S, 1902; the just agreement with the French Canal Com- 
pany to pay them the value of the work they had done; the negotiations and ratifica- 
tion of the treaty with Colombia; the rejection of that treaty by Colombia in viola- 
tion of our rights and the world's right to the passage of the isthmus; the seizure by 
Panama of the opportunity to renew her oft-repeated effort to throw off the hateful 
and oppressive yoke of Colombia and resume the independence which once had been 
hers, and of which she had been deprived by fraud and force ; the success of the 
revolution; our recognition of the new republic, followed by recognition from sub 
stantially all the civilized powers of the world; the treaty with Panama recognizing 
and confirming our right to construct the canal ; the ratification of the treaty by the 
Senate; confirmatory legislation by Congress; the payment of the $50,000. oo<j to 
the French company and to Panama; the appointment of the canal commission in 
accordance with law ; and its organization to begin the work. 

HONOE OF THE NATION MAINTAINED 

The action of the United States at every step has been in accordance with the 
law of nations, consistent with the principles of justice and honor, in discharge of tiic 
trust to build the canal we long since assumed by denying the right of every other 
power to build it. dictated by a high and unselfish purpose, for the common benefit 
of all mankind. That action was wise, considerate, prompt, vigorous, and effective; 
and now the greatest of constructive nations stands ready and competent to begin 



238 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

and to accomplish the great entei-prise which shall realize the dreams of past ages, 
bind together our Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and open a new highway for that 
commerce of the Orient whose course has controlled the rise and fall of civilizations. 
Success in that enterprise greatly concerns the credit and honor of the American 
people, and it is for them to say whether the building of the canal shall be in charge 
of men who made its building possible or of the weaklings whose incredulous objec- 
tions would have postponed it for another generation. 

Throughout the world the diplomacy of the pre.sent administration has made for 
peace and justice among nations. Clear-sighted to perceive and prompt to maintain 
American interests, it has been sagacious and simple and direct in its methods, ami 
considerate of the rights and of the feelings of others. 

CANADA DISPUTE ARBITRATED 

Upon our own continent a di.spute with Canada over the boundary of Alaska had 
been growing more acute for thirty years. A multitude of miners, swift to defend 
their own rights by force, were locating mining claims under the laws of both coun- 
tries in the disputed territory. At any moment a fatal affray between Canadian and 
American miners was liable to begin a conflict in which all British Columbia would !;c 
arrayed on one side and all our Northwest upon the other. Agreement was impos- 
sible. But the Alaskan boundary treaty of January- 24, 1903, provided a tribunal fur 
the decision of the controversy ; and upon legal proofs and rea.soned argument, an 
appeal has been had from prejudice and passion to judicial judgment; and under tlie 
lead of a great chief justice of England, who held the sacred obligations of his judi- 
cial office above all other considerations, the dispute has been settled forever and 
substantially in accordance with the American contention. 

UPHELD THE HAGUE TRIBUNAL 

In igoo the first administration of McKinley had played a great part in estab- 
lishing The Hague Tribunal for international arbitration. The prevailing opinion of 
Europe was incredulous as to the practical utility of the provision, and anticipated a 
paper tribunal unsought by litigants. It was the example of the United States 
which set at naught this opinion. The first international ca.se taken to The Hague 
Tribunal was under our protocol with Mexico of May 22. 1902, submitting our conten- 
tion for the rights of the Roman Catholic Church in California to a share of the church 
moneys held by the Mexican government before the cession, and known as the pious 
fund, and the first decision of the tribunal was an award in our favor upon that 
question. 

VENEZUELA SAVED FROM WAR 

When in 1903 the failure of Venezuela to \ii\\- her ji:.st debts led England, Ger- 
many, and Italy to warlike measures for the collection of their claims, an appeal liy 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 239 

Venezuela to our government resulted in agreements upon arbitration in place of the 
war, and in a request that our President should act as arbitrator. Again he pro- 
moted the authority and prestige of The Hague Tribunal and was able to lead all the 
powers to submit the crucial questions in controversy to the determination of that 
court. It is due greatly to support by the American government that this agency for 
peace has disappointed the expectations of its detractors, and by demonstrations of 
practical usefulness has begun a career fraught with possibilities of incalculable 
benefit to mankind. 

On the nth of April, 1903, was proclaimed another convention between all the 
g^eat powers, agreeing upon more humane rules for the conduct of war; and these in 
substance incorporated and gave the sanction of the civilized world to the rules 
drafted by Francis Lieber and approved by Abraham Lincoln for the conduct of the 
armies of the United States in the field. 

LEADERSHIP OF NATIONS GAINED 

All Americans who desire safe and conservative administration which shall 
avoid cause of quarrel, all who abhor war, all who long for the perfect sway of the 
principles of that religion which we all profess, should rejoice that under this Repub- 
lican administration their country has attained a potent leadership among the nations 
m the cause of peace and international justice. 

The respect and moral power thus gained has been exercised in the interests of 
humanity, where the rules of diplomatic intercourse have made formal intervention 
impossible. When the Roumanian outrages and when the appalling massacre at 
Kishineff shocked civilization and filled thousands of our own people with mourning, 
the protest of America was heard through the voice of its government, with full 
observance of diplomatic rules, but with moral power and effect. 

MONROE DOCTRINE IS UPHELD 

We have advanced the authority of the Monroe Doctrine. Our adherence to the 
convention which estabUshed The Hague Tribunal was accepted by the other powers, 
with a formal declaration that nothing therein contained should be construed to 
imply the relinquishment by the United States of its traditional attitude toward 
purely American questions. The armed demonstration by European powers against 
Venezuela was made the occasion for disclaimers to the United States of any inten- 
tion to seize the territory of Venezuela, recognizing in the most unmistakable way 
the rights of the United States expressed in the declaration of that traditional policy. 

In the meantime, mindful that moral powers unsupported by phy.sical strength 
do not always avail against selfishness and aggression, we have been augmenting 
the forces which command respect. 



240 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

ARMY AND NAVY STRENGTHENED 

We have brought our navy to a high state of efficiency and have exercised both 
army and navy in the methods of seacoast defense. The joint army and navy board 
has been bringing the two services together in good understanding and the common 
study of the strategy, the preparation, and the cooperation which w-ill make them 
effective in time of need. Our ships have been exercised in fleet and squadron 
movements, have been improved in marksmanship and mobility, and have been con- 
stantly tested by use. Since the last national convention met we have completed 
and added to our navy five battleships, four cruisers, four monitors, thirty-four tor- 
pedo destroyers and torpedo boats, while we have put under construction thirteen 
battleships and thirteen cruisers. 

Four years ago our army numbered over 100,000 men — regulars and volunteers — 
75 per cent of them in the Philippines and China. Under the operation of statutes 
limiting the period of service, it was about to lapse back into its old and insufficient 
number of 27,000, and its old and insufficient organization under the practical con- 
trol of permanent staff departments at Washington, with the same divisions of coun- 
sel and lack of coordinating and directing power at the head, that led to confusion 
and scandal in the war with Spain. During the last four years the lessons taught by 
that war have received practical effect. 

SHERMAN'S TEACHINGS RESPECTED 

The teachings of Sherman and of Upton have been recalled and respected. 
Congress has fixed a maximum of the army at 100,000 and a minimum at 60,000, so 
that maintaining only the minimum in peace, as we now do, when war threatens 
the president may begin preparations by filling the ranks to the maximum without 
waiting until after war has begun, as he had to wait in 1S9S. Permanent staff 
appointments have been changed to details from the. line, with compulsory returns 
at fixed intervals to service with troops, so that the requirements of the field and the 
camp rather than the requirements of the office desk shall control the departments 
of administration and supply. 

A corps organization has been provided for our artiller\-, with a chief of artillery 
at the head, so that there may be intelligent use of our costly seacoast defenses. 
Under the act of February 14, 1903, a general staff has been established, organized 
to suit American conditions and requirements and adequate for the performance of 
the long neglected but all-important duties of directing military education and train- 
ing, .^nd applying the most advanced principles of military science to that neces- 
sary preparation for war, which is the surest safeguard of peace. 

The command of the army now rests where it is placed by the constitution— in 
the president. His power is exercised through a military chief of staff pledged by 




WII^LIAM 15. ALLISON 

XTNITED STATE>i SEXATOH FROM IOWA 




From a Photo bv Pinrlv nf Bn~tnii 
Copyright 1S97 



GEORGE V. HOAR 



VXITED STATES SEXATOR FKOM MASSACHUSETTS 




NELSON M'. ALDRICII 
RHODE ISLAXI> 




KI)\VAK1> <). WOIiCOTT 
COLOKADO 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 



241 



the conditions and tenure of his ofSce to confidenL'e in and loyalty to his commander. 
Thus civilian control of the military arm, upon which we must always insist, is 
reconciled with that military eflSciency which can be obtained only under the direc- 
tion of the trained military expert. 

MILITIA SYSTEM IS IMPROVED 

Four years ago we were living under an obsolete militia law, more than a cen- 
tury old. which Washington, and Jefferson, and Madison, and almost every president 
since their time, had declared to be worthless. We presented the curious spectacle 
of a people depending upon a citizen soldier)- for protection against aggression, and 
making practically no prowsion whatever for training its citizens in the use of war- 
like weapons or in the elementary duties of the soldier. The mandate of the consti- 
tution which required Congress to provide for organizing, arming, and discipUning 
the militia had been left unexecuted. 

In default of national pro\dsions, bodies of State troops, created for local pur- 
poses and supported at local expense, had grown up throughout the Union. Their 
feelings toward the regular army were rather of distrust and dislike than of com- 
radeship. Their arms, equipment, discipline, organization, and methods of obtain- 
ing and accounting for suppHes were varied and inconsistent. They were unsuited 
to become a part of any homogeneous force, and their relations to the army of the 
United States were undefined and conjectural. By the militia act of January 20, 
1903, Congress performed its duty under the constitution. 

CITIZENS TRAINED FOR "WAR 

Leaving these bodies still to perform their duties to the States, it made them the 
organized militia of the United States. It provided for their conformity in arma- 
ment, organization, and discipHne to the army of the United States; it provided the 
■ways in which, either strictly as militia or as volunteers, they should become an 
active part of the army when called upon ; it provided for their training, instruction, 
and e.xercise conjointly with the regular army; it imposed upon the regular army 
the duty of promoting their efficiency in many ways. 

In recognition of the service to the nation which these citizen soldiers would be 
competent to render, the nation assumed its share of the burden of their armament, 
their supply, and their training. The workings of this system have already demon- 
strated, not only that we can have citizens outside of the regular army trained for 
duty in war, but that we can have a body of volunteer officers ready for service, 
between whom and the officers of the regular army have been created by intimcite 
association and mutual helpfulness those relations of confidence and esteem without 
which no army can be effective. 



242 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 



CHALLENGE JUDOMENT ON THE RECORD 

The first administration of McKinley fought and won the war with Spain, put 
down the insurrection in the Philippines, annexed Hawaii, rescued the legations in 
Pekin, brought Porto Rico into our commercial system, enacted a protective tariff, 
and established our national currency on the firm foundations of the gold standard 
by the financial legislation of the Fifty-sixth Congress. 

The present administration has reduced taxation, reduced the public debt, 
reduced the annual interest charge, made effective progress in the regulation of 
trusts, fostered business, promoted agriculture, built up the navy, reorganized the 
army, resurrected the militia system, inaugurated a new policy for the preservation 
and reclamation of public lands, given civil government to the Philippines, estab" 
lished the republic of Cuba, bound it to us by ties of gratitude, of commercial inter- 
est, and of common defense ; swung open the closed gateway of the isthmus, 
strengthened the Monroe Doctrine, ended the Alaskan boundary dispute, protected 
the integrity of China, opened wider its doors of trade, advanced the principle of 
arbitration, and promoted peace among the nations. 

We challenge judgment upon this record of effective performance in legislation, 
in execution, and in administration. 

MORE WORK STILL TO DO 

The work is not fully done ; policies are not completely wrought out; domestic 
questions still press continually for solution; other trusts must be regulated; the 
tariff may presently receive revision, and if so should receive it at the hands of the 
friends and not the enemies of the protective system ; the new Philippine govern- 
ment has only begun to develop its plans for the benefit of that long neglected 
country; our flag floats on the isthmus, but the canal is yet to be built; peace does 
not yet reign on earth, and considerate firmness, backed by strength, is still needful 
in diplomacy. 

The American people have now to say whether policies shall be reversed, or 
committed to unfriendly guardians ; whether performance, which now proves itself 
for the benefit and honor of our country, shall be transferred to unknown and per- 
chance to feeble hands. 

EULOGIZES MURDERED PRESIDENT 

No dividing line can be drawn athwart the course of this successful administra- 
tion. The fatal 14th of September, 1901, marked no change of policy, no lower level 
of achievement. The bullet of the assassin robbed us of the friend we loved ; it took 
away from the people the president of their choice ; it deprived civilization of a 
potent force making always for righteousness and for humanity. But the fabric of 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 243 

free institutions remained unsliaken. The government of thie people went on. The 
great party that William McKinley led wrought still in the spirit of his example. 
His true and loyal successor has been equal to the burden cast upon him. Widely 
different in temperament and methods, he has proved himself of the same ele- 
mental virtues — the same fundamental beliefs. With faithful and revering memory 
he has executed the purposes and continued unbroken the policy of President McKin- 
ley for the peace, prosperity, and honor of our beloved country. And he has met all 
new occasions with strength, and resolution, and far-sighted wisdom. 

As we gather in this convention our hearts go back to the friend — the never-to- 
be-forgotten friend — whom when last we met we acclaimed with one accord as our 
universal choice to bear a second time the highest honor in the nation's gift; and 
back .still memory goes through many a year of leadership and loyalty. 

How wise and how skillful he was ! How modest and self-effacing ! How deep 
his insight into the human heart! How swift the intuitions of his sympathy I How 
compelling the charm of his gracious presence! He was so unselfish, so thoughtful 
of the happiness of otiiers, so genuine a lover of his country and his kind. And he 
was the kindest and tenderest friend who ever grasped another's hand. Alas, that 
his virtues did plead in vain against cruel fate! 

Yet we may rejoice that while he lived he was crowned with honor; that the 
rancor of party strife had ceased; that .success in his great tasks, the restoration of 
peace, the approval of his countrj'men, the affection of his friends, gave the last 
quiet months in his home at Canton repose and contentment. 

HONORS MEMORY OF HANNA 

And with McKinlej- we remember Hanna with affection and sorrow — his great 
lieutenant. They are tt^gether again. 

But we turn, as they would have us turn, to the duties of the hour, the hopes of 
the future; we turn, as they would have us turn, to prepare ourselves for struggle 
under the same standard borne in other hands by right of true inheritance. Honor, 
truth, courage, purity of life, domestic virtue, love of country, loyalty to high ideals — 
all these, combined with active intelligence, with learning, with experience in affairs, 
with the conclusive proof of competency afforded by wise and conservative admiuis- 
tration, by great things already done and great results al read)' achieved — all these we 
bring to the people with another candidate. Shall not these have honor in our land? 
Truth, sincerity, courage! these underlie the fabric of our institutions. Upon 
hypocrisy and sham, upon cunning and false pretense, upon weakness and cowardice, 
upon arts of the demagogue and the devices of the mere politician, no government 
can stand. No system of popular government cii; endure in which the people do 
not believe and trust. 



244 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

PEOPLE IN THE PRESIDENT'S CONFIDENCE 

Our President has taken the whole people into his confidence. Incapable of 
deception, he has put aside concealment. Frankly and without reserve he has told 
them what their government was doing, and the reasons. It is no campaign of 
appearances upon which we enter, for the people know the good and tlie bad, the 
success and failure, to be credited and charged to our account. It is no campaign 
of sounding words and specious pretenses, for our President has told the people with 
frankness what he believed and what he intended. He has meant every word he 
said, and the people have believed every word he said, and with him this conven 
tion agrees because every word has been sound Republican doctrine. 

No people can maintain free government who do not in their hearts value the 
qualities which have made the present President of the United States conspicuous 
among the men of his time as a type of noble manhood. Come what may here — 
come what may in November — God grant that those qualities of brave, true manhood 
shall have honor throughout America, shall be held for an example in every home 
and that the youth of generations to come may grow up to feel that it is better tliaii 
wealth, or office, or power to have the honesty, the purity, and the courage of 
Theodore Roosevelt. 

At the conclusion of his speech Mr. Root was greeted vvitli 
prolonged applause, the delegates standing and waving Hags. 
CHIOAOO GAVEL IS PRESENTED 

Graeme Stewart of Chicago then advanced to the center 
of the platform, gavel in hand, and, addressing Temporarj^ 
Chairman Root, said: 

"Mr. Chairman, at the request of the local committee it is 
my pleasure to present to you, on behalf of the city of Chi- 
cago, this symbol of authority, to be used during the sessions 
of this convention." 

Mr. Root received the gavel without response. 

TEMPORARY OFFICERS ARE ANNOUNCED 

The clerk then read a list of temporary officers proposed 
by the committee as follows: 

General secretary — Charles W. Johnson, Minnesota. 
Assistant secretaries — John K. Aiallo}-, Ohio; James G. 



THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 245 

Cannon, New York; Thomas F. Clifford, New Hampshire; 
Lucian Grey, IlHnois; Willett M. Spooner, Wisconsin; T. 
Larry Eyre, Pennsylvania; J. T. Wilson, Kentucky; Rome C. 
Stephenson, Indiana; John H. King, South Dakota; Walter 
S. Melick, California; T. St. John Gaffney, Missouri; Edgar 
O. Silver, Vermont; P'rank D. Waterman, New York; George 
W. Armstrong, Minnesota; Franklin Murphy, Jr., New Jersey; 
Edwin C. Simms, Illinois; James Paddock, Illinois. 

Reading clerks — W. D. Harrison, Nebraska; Dennis 
Alward, Michigan; E. L. Lampson, Ohio; T. W. B. Duck- 
wall, West Virginia. 

Clerk at president's table — Asher C. Hinds, Maine. 

Sergeant at arms — William F. Stone, Maryland. 

P'irst assistant sergeant at arms — David C. Owen, Wis- 
consin. 

Chaplains — First day, the Rev. Timothy P. Frost; second 
day, the Rev. Thomas E. Cox; third day, the Rev. Thaddeus 
A. Snively, all of Illinois. 

TWO RESOLUTIONS ARE OFFERED 

"In the interest of economy of time in the performance of 
our business," said Thomas H. Carter of Montana, "I present 
the following resolution: 

" Resolved, That until a permanent organization is effected this convention be 
governed by the rules of the last national Republican convention." 

The resolution was unanimously adopted. 
Senator McComas of Maryland offered the following reso- 
lution, which was read by the secretary: 

Resolved, That the roll of States and Territories be now called, and that the 
chairman of each delegation announce the names of the persons selected to serve on 
the several committees, as follows; Permanent organization, rules and order of 
business, credentials and resolutions ; and, further, that the chairman of each dele- 



246 THE CONVENTION ASSEMBLES 

gation send to the secretary's desk, in writing, the names of the persons selected 
from his delegation to serve on the aforesaid committees. 

ISLAND DELEGATES ARE SEATED 

After the adoption of the resolution, Mr. Root said: 

Gentlemen of the Convention: Before directing the call of the roll the chair 
vpishes the instructions of the convention upon the question which he will now state. 
The national committee has placed upon the temporarj- roll the names of delegates 
from Porto Rico and the Philippines. The chair does not feel authorized to direct the 
calling of those names upon the roll without the instruction of the convention. Will 
the convention take action upon the question? 

The action was taken on motion of Senator Foraker of 
Ohio. 

Mr. Root explained that the decision meant that two dele- 
gates from Porto Rico and six delegates from the Philippines 
would have seats in the convention with the power of voting, 
the latter delegation having two votes. 

INVITATION TO WORLD'S FAIR IS READ 

Senator Depew was recognized by the chair and addressed 
the convention regarding the invitation which he had received 
for the delegates and representatives of the press to attend 
the World's Fair at St. Louis. 

On motion of Mr. Ernst of Kentucky the convention 
adjourned until the following noon. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE SECOND DAY 

Chairman Joseph G. Cannon Addresses the Convention — The Party's History 
— American Labor Fostered — The Country's Policy Outlined — Contrast 
in Administration — The Philippine Islands — The Enemy of Trusts - 
The Strike Question— Great Things to be Done — The Platform Read 
and Adopted. 

The second session of the Republican National Conven- 
tion was called to order by Temporary Chairman Root at 
12.20 o'clock, Wednesday. The proceedings opened with 
prayer, after which the report of the credentials committee 
was submitted by Senator McComas of Maryland, which 
recommended, among other things, that the sitting delegates 
from Wisconsin, John C. Spooner, Joseph \^ Quarles, Joseph 
W. Babcock and Emil Baensch with their alternates, be placed 
upon the permanent roll of the convention. After the report 
had been adopted, Senator Depew of New York, on behalf of 
the committee appointed with reference to the invitation of 
the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, sent its report to the 
desk. At this point Major General Peter J. Osterhaus was 
introduced by Chairman Root as the corps commander under 
Sherman. He spoke briefly. 

THE PERMAKENT ORGANIZATION EFFECTED 

The chau- then announced that the report of the comm.ii- 
tee on permanent organization was in order, and it was read 
by P'ranklin Murphy of New Jersey. 

Joseph G. Cannon of Illinois was recommended by the 

247 



248 THE SECOND DAY 

committee as permanent chairman, and tlie remaining officers 
were those holding their positions under the temporary 
organization. The committee recommended for vice-presi- 
dents from each State the men elected by the delegations. 

The report was approved, and Temporary Chairman Root 
appointed John D. Long of Massachusetts, Senator Cullom of 
Illinois, and Congressman Burton of Ohio to escort the per- 
manent chairman to his place at the desk. 

LOUD CHEERING FOR OANNON 

As the committee was escorting Speaker Cannon to the 
platform the band started to play "Columbia, the Gem of the 
Ocean," and his appearance was the signal for prolonged 
applause. As the speaker advanced to the front of the stage 
the delegates rose and cheered wildly, and flags were waved. 
When quiet was restored Mr. Root said: 

Gentlemen of the Convention; I present to you as your permanent chairman 
the man who holds the gavel of the great popular legislative body of America with a 
grip so firm, directs it with a brain so clear and a heart so sound and fair, that he 
will wield it for many and many a year to come. 

This introduction was followed by another outburst of 
applause, in the midst of which some one handed Speaker 
Cannon a gavel. 

THE PERMANENT CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS 

After ten minutes of continual cheering, and when the 
convention finally came to order. Speaker Cannon said: 

Gentlemen of the Convention; For the first time in my life I put in black and 
white enough sentences to contain twenty-five hundred words to say to you. I have 
tried to memorize it, but I cannot. I have given it out through the usual channels to 
the great audience, and now I must either beg to be excused entirely, or I must do 
like we do down in the house of representatives under the five-minute rule and make 
a few feeble remarks. But that no man shall say that I have not made a great 
speech I will set that matter at rest by saying that from beginning t;i end I 



THE SECOND DAY 249 

heartily indorse every statement of fact and every sentiment given you yesterday 
from the temporary presiding ofiBcer in the greatest speech ever delivered at a con- 
vention. 

SPEAKS OF ENTHUSIASM 

Now let me go on and ramble. And first they say that there is no enthusiasm 
in this convention. Gentlemen, the great river that has its thirty feet of water, 
rising in the mountains and growing in depth and breadth down to the ocean, bears 
upon its bosom the commerce of that section of land that it drains and bears it out 
to the world. It is a silent river, and yet the brawling stream that is like to the 
Platte out in Nebraska, which is fourteen miles wide and four inches deep, makes 
more noise than the bigger river. 

When we were young folks twenty years ago we went to see our best girls. 
We were awfully enthusiastic if she would give us a nod of the head, or the trip- 
away catch-me-if-you-can, to enter upon the chase. That was awfully strenuous 
and awfully enthusiastic. But, when she said "Yes," then good relations were 
established, and we went on evenly throughout the remainder of our lives. 

HERE ONLY FOR BUSINESS 

It is a contest that makes enthusiasm. In 1904, as in 1900, everybody has known 
for twelve months past who is to be our standard bearer in this campaign. We are 
here for business. I wonder if our friends, the enemy, would not be glad of a little 
of our kind of enthusiasm. 

I might illustrate further. I don't know that it is necessarj'. I see .some of my 
former friends before me; my colleague. Colonel Lowden, and others. 

Now, there is not one of you that raises chickens, as I do, but understands that 
when the hen comes off the nest with one chicken she does more scratching and 
makes more noise than the motherly hen that is fortunate with twenty-three. Our 
friends, the enemy, will have the enthusiasm ; we will take the votes in November. 

POINTS TO PARTY'S HISTORY 

To be serious for a moment. As long as you have eighty millions of people com- 
petent for self-government they will organize and will call the organization a party. 
The Republican party, bom of the declaration that slavery is sectional and freedom 
national, achieved its first success in i860 with Abraham Lincoln. Secession; the 
war of the Union; you older men recollect it well. We have one of the survivors 
here. I was glad to see him given the courtesies of the convention. He helped to 
make it possible that we could ha%'e this convention. 

Forty-four years ago, just about this time in the year— 1904— what a contrast! 
A divided country, bankrupt treasury, no credit. The Republican party had power, 



250 THE SECOND DAY 

and under its great leadership wrote revenue legislation upon the statute books and 
went back to the principles of Washington and Hamilton, and legislation that would 
produce revenue while fixing duties upon imports was so adjusted as to encourage 
every American citizen to take part in the diversified industries and resources of the 
country. 

PROGRESS MADE SINCE 1860 

Will you bear with me for five minutes while I speak of the comparison as it was 
then upon the one hand of facts and with the condition to-day? In i860 we had been 
substantially dominated for many years by the free trade party, insignificant in 
manufactures, great in agriculture. Under our policy, which has been followed, with 
the exception of eight years, from that time to this, the United States remains first 
in agriculture, but by leaps and bounds has diversified her industries, until to-day 
we are the greatest manufacturing country on God's footstool. One-third of all the 
world's products that come from the factory are made in the United States by the 
operation and cooperation of American capital and American labor and skill. 

Let me make one other statement. Our product every year is greater than the 
entire combined manufactured product of Great Britain, of Germany, and of France. 
Where do we get the market for it? Ninety-seven per cent of this great product — 
one-third the world's product — finds a market amongst ourselves in the United 
States. And yet, of this product last year we sold to foreign countries— I am speak- 
ing now of the manufactured product — more than $400,000,000 in goods — 2g per cent 
of our total exports — and our total exports made and make us the greatest exporting 
nation on earth. 

AMERICAN LABOR IS FOSTERED 

Made by labor? Yes. Made by labor that works less hours than any labor on 
earth. Made by labor that, conservatively stated, receives $1.75 as against the 
average of the competitive labor in the world of $1. Oh, gentlemen, it is not a few 
rich men that make markets. Nay, nay. It is the multiplied millions on farms, in 
mine, and in factory, that work to-day and consume to-morrow, and, with steady 
employment and good wage, give us, with 80,000,000 of people, a market equal to 
200,000,000 of consuming people anywhere else on earth. 

The farmer buys the artisan's product. The artisan, bing employed, buyr. the 
farmer's product. The wheels go round. You cannot strike one branch of labor in 
the republic without the blow reacting on all producers. Well, are you satisfied 
v.-ith the comparison from the manufacturing standpoint? If not, let me give you 
another illustration that will, perhaps, go home to the minds of men more quickly 
Ihan the illustration I have given. 



THE SECOND DAY 251 

OEOWTH OF THE POSTAL FACILITIES 

Take the postoffice department that reaches all of the people, and no man is 
compelled to pay one penny. It is voluntary taxation. For the year ending in 
March, 1861, the total revenue of the postoffice department in all the United States 
was §8,500,000. Keep that in our minds; $8,500,000. How much do you .suppose it 
cost to run it? Nineteen million. Took all the revenue and as much more, and one 
quarter as much more from the treasury to pay for that postal service. Why, gen- 
tlemen, the city postoffice of Chicago last year collected more revenue by almost 
$1,000,000 than was collected by the whole department in the United States in i860. 

How is it now? We have reduced postage more than one-half since 1S60 on the 
average. Last year the postal revenues were $134,000,000, as against .§8,000,000 in 
i860. Keep that in your mind — $134,000,000. And the whole service only cost 
§138,000,000. We had a deficit of §4,000,000 — 3 per cent — and we would not have 
had that deficit had it not been that under the lead of the Republican party — looking 
out for the welfare of all the people and conducting the government from a business 
standpoint — under the lead of McKinley, followed by Roosevelt, ruial free delivery 
was established that cost §io,ooo,oco. Great heavens! The Republican party from 
1S60 until this moment moves out, does what good common sense dictates, and the 
country grows to it. Well, now. I will drop that department. 
IS THE PARTY OF PROTECTION 

The Republican party is a national party and believes in diversification of our 
industries and the protection of American capital and American labor as against the 
cheaper labor elsewhere on earth. 

What do the other people believe in? For sixty years went out the cry of free 
trade throughout the world — free ships upon the sea. Then a tariflf was demanded 
for revenue only. The opposition always has denounced the RepuDlican policy of 
protection as robbery, and, whenever clothed with power, whatever its pretenses, it 
has thrust a dagger into the very heart of protection. 

Oh, well, aren't they going to change? Let us see. Just before the close of the 
last Congress New York's eloquent son, Bourke Cockran, a member of the house of 
representatives, got the floor, and he preached an old-fashioned Democratic ser- 
mon—free trade and all that kind of thing— and he did it well, and there came from 
the minority side of that house, without exceptions, such cheering and crying and 
hurrahing and applauding as I never witnessed before in that house of representa- 
tives, because at last they had the pure Democratic faith delivered to them. 

OPPOSITION LACKS DEFINITENESS 

They are trying to draw sets together from Nebraska and throughout the coun- 
try. New England, New York, and the South ; trying to satisfy people that they 



2S2 THE SECOND DAY 

niiglit to come into [xjwer uuder the lead of Gorman of the Senate and Williams of 
the house. They have been trying to give the country Dover's powders. 

"Oh," said my distinguished colleague, following the astute Senator Gorman, 
"if we come into power, while protection is robber\-, 3'et we will say to you that we 
will journey in the direction of free trade when you clothe us with power, but we 
will not destroy your industries overnight." Great God! Think of it! They won't 
kill you outright, but they will stan.'e you to death day by day. They want to be 
]int on guard to protect the people who are dwelling in peace and prosperity under a 
Republican policy. 

It reminds me of the fable of .<Esop. You know he records that the wolves said 
to the sheep. "Discharge the dogs," who were their natural protectors, "and employ 
us, and we will take care of you." Do the capital of this country and the labor of 
this countrj- want to go imder the care of "Wolf" Gorman and Williams and their 
fellows? I think not. 

MUST OUTLINE COUNTRY'S POLICY 

What a country it is! Republicans, we have to outline the policy and lead the 
people in caring for it. Why, we are like the women, we not only have to take 
care of ourselves but more, as one of our women said. They have to take care of 
the men. The Republican party not only has to care for itself, but has to care for 
the minority by a wise policy. How it has been doing it! We preserve the Union 
under the policy and leadership of this party. Do you recollect that the opposition 
party on a demand for an armistice and negotiation and compromise nominated 
McClellan in 1S64? 

Do you recollect when the amendments were adopted they said "Nay, nay." and 
then, after they were adopted, they came into power temporarily in Indiana and 
Ohio, and passed acts taking back the assent of the States? When the first battle 
was fought against greenback on fiat money back in the '70's, out in the Middle 
West, whatever they were on the Atlantic coast, they were fiatists East. From step 
to step through all these forty-four years where, if you measure time by advance, we 
have lived two centuries as compared with any other period of the world's history, 
they have pulled back, pulled back. When we accomplish and it becomes neces- 
sary to march forward and try to accomplish again, they move into our old qu.irters 
and squat down there and make faces and say, ''You are going to send the country 
to hell." 

CONTRAST IN ADMINISTRATIONS 

We do not mind it. We move on. Why multiply words about ancient or recent 
conditions? Take the countrj' under the administration of Grover Cleveland and 
compare it to the country under the administration of William McKinlcy and under 



THE SECOND DAY 253 

Theodore Roosevelt. If a man will dwell on comparison for a moment, and make a 
fair comparison, if he would not indorse the policies of the Republican party, he 
would not believe although he were raised from the dead. McKinlej-. Roosevelt. 
The passage of the Dingley act that restored us economic prosperity. The gold 
standard act that settled for all time the matter of sound currency. The short, tri- 
umphant war with Spain. The Philippines and Porto Rico coming under our flag, 
and freedom to Cuba. This is a record that will stand in the future second only to 
the records made by George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. 

Then imported anarchy struck down our great president, when partisan strife 

had almost ceased, and the world paused in wonder and in- indignation not in fear, 

because, as life went from our great leader and our great president, there was a 
young, active, honest, courageous man standing by the bedside, who under the con- 
stitution was his successor, and he there said: "I am to he president to carry out the 
policies of the Republican party and I will journey in the footsteps of William 
McKinley and of Abraham Lincoln." 

TELLS OF WORK ACCOMPLISHED 

To your coming president great things have happened iu the last three years. 
In the old world a single great policy in the generation is the exception. We have 
more than that in our progressive country. I have given you the great achieve- 
ments under McKinley. Under his worthy, great successor we had the consum- 
mation of freedom to Cuba wrought out by superior statesmanship. 

Imperialism, that was talked about under McKinley, has disappeared with grow- 
ing civil government and peace in the Philippines. Aye, it has disappeared from the 
face of the earth. Did I say from the face of the earth.' I will stick to it, because 
the doctrinaire here and the doctrinaire there, whether it be in New York or in 
Boston, draws his toga about him, saying, "I am wiser than thou." and still, after 
this great question ife settled by the conscience and the intelligence of all the people, 
he still cries "Wolf, wolf!" Well, under the constitution of the United States, he 
has a right to. 

PHILIPPINES PROMISE USEFULNESS 

Let them ask. What is going to become of the Philippines? At last we have 
peace. At last we have growing civil government, and as our 80,000,000 in this 
twentieth century shall increase from 80,000,000 to 250,000,000, as we shall go out 
with production and commerce, in the fullness of time that territorv will be useful 
to the United States, whereas in the meantime we will be like a benediction to them. 

The United States, great iu production and wealth. In 1S50, §300, in round 
numbers, was the per capita wealth. In 19013, $1,235 was the per capita wealth. In 
1S60 the wealth was measured by sixteen billions of dollars; in 1900, ninety-four bil- 



254 . THE SECOND DAY 

lions; now, one hundred billions. Great Britain has only an aggregate of wealth of 
sixty billions, and she has been living and gathering it for the last five hundred 
years. In a generation we spring from si.xteen to one hundred billions. The world's 
wealth is four hundred billions of dollars. The United SUtes has one-fourth of it. 

THE ENEMY OF THE TRUSTS 

Our friends, the enemy— some of them little politicians— vex the air crying, 
•■The trust, trusts, trusts." Oh, they come out strong with good lungs as trust bust- 
ers. Ever since 1890 did they ever do any busting? Oh, no. There is no Jericho 
now, and if there was it would never happen again that persons would march around 
the walls of Jericho blowing rams' horns seven times until the walls fell down. 
That is what they are trying to do. 

Trusts? Yes. Great combinations of capital against pubUc policy? Yes. But 
the Republican party, always true to the people and its traditions, made haste to 
provide under the constitution legislation that would prohibit these combinations. 

TELLS OF COUNTRY'S WEALTH 

There is no country od earth that has so much wealth as ours. Why, interest 
rates are cheapening and cheapening, until to-day the credit of the United States 
commands money at a premium at 2 per cent, which is i per cent lower than any 
nation on earth can command it. 

Foreign combinations? Yes. But all the while these great wealth seeking indi- 
viduals desiring favorable investments month by month and year by year, enter- 
prising citizens desiring gain, found additional industries. Why. take the census of 
1900. They have the figures correctly tabulated and made according to the facts. 
The census of igoo shows that only 14 per cent of the factory product came from the 
establishments of the so-called trusts in the United States, whereas 86 per cent of 
the factory product came from their competitors in individual and small ownership.s. 

PROSPERITY IS NOT MENACED 

It is bound to be that way, if you will stop and think. There are eighty millions 
of our people. If some man conceives the idea that when he dies wisdom will have 
departed, and that he can corner the air, and the water, and the sunlight, he will 
find eighty millions of people who make our civilization that will make a law that 
can be enforced. Can you prove it? Yes. Just a minute. In the last two years 
the wind and the water that came from over-capitalization in forming the so-called 
trusts have been squeezed out. There are persons who make "mouth bets" about 
the price of watered companies and companies that have gas on top of the water, 
made by the printing press with the certificates. Oh, tl-.ey stand around and they 
say, • 'Why, there is the most extraordinary shrinkage in values that was ever known. 



THE SECOND DAY 255 

How much? Ob, a good many lnindred<; of millions; the Wall Street Journal says 
over a billion, six hundred million," 

Still, every dollar of property, every particle of property that was represented 
by this over-capitalization two years ago is yet with us. Now. all the fools that bet 
on it to go down and the fools that bet on it to go up can fight it out. It don't make 
one particle of difference to the eighty millions of people who Hve by toil and do a 
legitimate business. 

DEALS WITH THE STRIKE QUESTION 

The law, public opinion, public sentiment, the desire for good investments, dol- 
lar for dollar, in the factory, where a dollar costs one hundred cents, goes into com- 
petition against the factory that cost one hundred cents and is burdened with another 
one hundred cents common, and another one hundred cents gas, and another one 
hundred cents moonshine. Work it out It is all right. "Oh, but," says our 
enemy. '"my God, look at the strikes you are having in this country." That is their 
strong suit — strikes, strikes. 

Now, what is a strike? It is an effort by the employer and the employee to 
ag^ee how the profit should be divided. If the employee doesn't get as much as he 
thinks he ought to get, after arbitration has been tried, he strikes. A quarrel about 
something. The division of something. Well, then, it is absolutely necessary to 
have a strike that there should be a profit. Great God ! How many strikes were 
there under Cleveland when the Democrats had the running of things? When 
money becomes scarce the profits are scarce. There is the whole storj-. 

INJUSTICE ON BOTH SIDES 

Oh, but outrageous things are done by the employer when he oppresses the 
laborer, and outrageous things are done by some laborers when they go on a strike. 
Yes, outrageous things are done in some of our best governed churches, and amongst 
tho.se who do not belong to any church. Once in a while a citizen commits larceny. 
Once in a while a man commits arson. Once in a while a man is guilty of homi- 
cide. Why, the law is made to protect society against the man who will not obey 
the law and who makes war on his neighbors. Yes, there is law breaking and dis- 
order; law breaking in the formation of trusts; law breaking, at times, in the organi- 
zation of labor when it goes on strike. But the great body of the American people 
owning the wealth are not for the trusts, and the great body of labor, honest men 
who live by toil, are not for law breaking in the strikes. 

The law is the sheet anchor of civilization; strong enough to pulldown the 
strongest ; strong enough to curb the weaker and the vicious. It is strong enough, 
like the grace of God, to throw its arms about the weakest and the poorest and bring 
him under its protection. All must obey under Theodore Roosevelt as the national 



256 THE SECOND DAY 

representative of the law. He is, and will continue to be, without favor or affection, 
the representative of law supreme and universal in our borders. 

PRAISES SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT 

A few words more and I will conclude. Our government is of the people. It is 
divided into coordinate branches. The judges of the United States courts, who hold 
office for life, or during good behavior; the executive; the congress, which consists 
of two coordinate branches — the house and the senate — great legislative bodies ; they 
could not be otherwise, bom as they are of eighty millions of people, who are com- 
petent for self-government. In the senate the tenure is for six years. The great 
popular body, near to the people, that reflects the sentiment of the people, is chosen 
every two years. Now, then, you know under our form of government the party in 
power is held responsible. The function of the minority is to put it on good behavior 
by being ever ready to appeal to the people. 

Let me tell you something. If our government has a fault it is that after an 
election one party is placed in power with only one leg. It may have the senate. 
It may have the presidency. It may have the hou.se. It goes along on crutches. 
Yet you want to hold it responsible for public sentiment. If I had the power I 
would so change our constitutiojj that, at every quadrennial election, the party that 
received the popular approval should go fully into power and let the public have a 
government according to the sentiment expressed at the ballot box. But we have 
not got it arranged quite that way. What is the next best thing? You like Theo- 
dore Roosevelt? Yes. Stronger than his party ; he will be triumphantly elected. 

ADVOCATES CHANGE IN SENATE 

Do you like the senate of the United States? Yes. Its condition cannot be 
changed in November. It could be changed at the end of four years, electing a 
third every two years. You like the electoral colleges of the great popular party, 386 
strong, coming with the warrants of attorney from the people to cast their votes for 
your candidates. If you approve of them, if you approve of the Republican 
policies, you are short-sighted if you refuse a working majority in the house of rep- 
resentatives, because you cannot keep a Republican house without it. 

I am done. I have already detained you longer than I expected. In conclu- 
sion, let me again say that we are proud of the President ; we are proud of the 
future. The twentieth century is to bring more of good or evil to the human race 
than the nineteenth century brought. Under what party banner will you enlist? 
Under that of the reactionist? Under that of the people who sit still or tear down? 
Or, will you take service vyith the party of Lincoln and Grant and Garfield and Har- 
rison and McKinley and Roosevelt, and help us march on to victory? 



THE SECOND DAY 257 

GREAT THINGS REMAIN TO BE DONE 

Speaking of the living in the presence of the dead, we have tears for them and 
admiration for the great things that they accomplish ; but the glory of our race, of 
our civilization, is that each generation works out its own salvation and marches 
forward to success and the betterment of the condition of mankind, and, as they 
drop into the grave, their successors move on to the stage of action, holding fast all 
that the past has given us, and going in turn a generation's march further on for the 
benefit of the race and of civilization. 

After the applause had subsided the band played "Amer- 
ica." The delegates and the audience listened standing. 
COMMITTEE ON RULES REPORTS 

Chairman Cannon called for the report of the committee 
on rules. It was submitted by Representative Bingham of 
Pennsylvania, who said: 

I am directed by your committee on rules and order of procedure to submit 
their unanimous report for the approval of the convention. In iSSS the rules we had 
governing the preceding conventions of the party were gone over with great care 
and authority. That convention adopted a rule, and from that day to this the guide 
of the order of procedure has been changed only in a limited number of its rules or 
provisions. Your committee has followed the action of a like committee in preceding 
conventions, but several changes are enacted in these rules because of the inclusion 
of the Philippine Islands and Porto Rico, together with the inclusion of a rule 
recommended by the secretary of the national committee, in order that in making 
up the roll of delegates and alternates and contested seats a better submission could 
be made than has heretofore been made under no rule. 

In full recognition of the fairness and famiUarity of your presiding officer to-day, 
in order that he may feel perfectly' at home in this convention, as he always does in 
the speaker's chair in the house, we have adopted the rules of the Fifty-Eighth Con- 
gress when not inconsistent with the rules submitted for this convention. 

The reading of the report was dispensed with and Mr. 
Bingham moved its adoption. 

FORAKER OFFERS AN AMENDMENT 

Senator Foraker offered as an amendment: 

Resolved, That tiie report of the committee on rules be amended so as to allow 
the six delegates from Hawaii six votes in conformity with her sister territories of 
Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, and Alaska. 



258 THE SECOND DAY 

"In support of that amendment I call attention to the fact 
that Hawaii is a Territory, made so by legislative enactment, 
and entitled to the same treatment as every other Territory," 
said Senator Foraker. "All the other Territories are given 
six delegates. In the call of the national committee Hawaii, 
as a Territory, was asked to send six delegates, and Alaska, 
which is not a Territory but only a district, was asked to send 
four delegates." 

CARTER APPEALS FOR HAWAII 

Governor Carter then addressed the convention. He said: 

There seems to be an impression in some quarters that Hawaii is a Territory. I 
rise to assure you that Hawaii is on the map of the United States and Territories of 
America and not in the list of its possessions. We, gentlemen, twelve good, stalwart 
Republicans, have traveled five thousand miles to show our allegiance to this party. 
We are too good American citizens to sit still in the face of discrimination, and too 
loyal Republicans to see this convention take an action which will injure it even in 
the isles beyond the sea, those emerald isles, the paradise of the Pacific. God grant 
that it may not occur, but in the struggle of the future if there should arise a contest 
on the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii will be necessary to America and the people of 
Hawaii will not be found wanting. 

Governor Carter was greeted with prolonged cheering and 
applause. Senator Hopkins then said: 

HOPKINS OPPOSES AMENDMENTS 

Mr. Chairman : I trust that the amendment offered by the senator from Ohio 
will not be adopted by this convention, and I trust that the enthusiasm expressed by 
the delegate from the Hawaiian Islands will not carry the members of this conven- 
tion away from what is just and proper in determining the personnel of a great 
national convention. I do not yield even to the delegate from Hawaii in my admira- 
tion for that island, and in my zeal to support any administration that benefits the 
people of the island. 

It was my province and my pleasure by my vote to assist in making the 
Hawaiian Islands a part of the United States, and ever since that time I have voted 
always for legislation that would benefit the people; but when we come to a great 
national convention we should not treat the people of the islands there any better 



THE SECOND DAY 259 

than we treat the people in a congressional district in the State of Illinois or in the 
Empire State of New York. 

FORAKER GETS THE FLOOR AGAIN 

On Senator Hopkins' motion Senator P'oraker again was 
given the floor. He spoke from the platform in response to 
calls from the delegates. 

There was much in what was said by the distinguished senator from Illinois, 
with which we all sympathize, and when the proper time comes for making another 
precedent we will then all listen to his reasoning. I submit that it is too late to make 
the provision to which objection has in this case been made. I call attention again 
to the fact that Hawaii is a Territory of the United States;. It has been given a 
territorial government, and that action of the congress of the United States was in 
accordance with the provisions of the law annexing Hawaii. Hawaii, therefore, 
stands before us when it comes to the matter of representation in precisely the same 
light that every other Territory stands before us. 

BABCOCK SPEAKS FOR THE COMMITTEE 

Congressman Babcock of Wisconsin then addressed the 
convention. 

Mr. Chairman : As a member of the committee on rules I wish to say that the 
delegates from Hawaii have already been seated in this convention and occupy seats 
on this floor at this time. The national committee and the committee on rules report 
identically the same, that the six delegates should cast two votes. 

Mr. Chairman, if the convention proposes seriously to consider this amendment 
I want to add another: I want the District of Columbia to have six representatives; 
I want the State of Wisconsin, in which I reside, to have seventy-eight. 

Delegate McKinley of California spoke in favor of the 
resolution. 

BINGHAM OFFERS A SUBSTITXTTE 

Congressman Bingham of Pennsylvania was then recog- 
nized by the chair. He said: 

Alasl;a has poured into the industries and treasury of the country millions of 
dollars, and in recognition of that industry and tribute to the republic we increased 
the representation from four to six. Had the Territories in the convention in Cincin- 
nati which nominated President Hayes had the representation they have in this con- 



26o THE SECOND DAY 

vention thev would have changed and could have changed the determination of that 
convention. 

Mr. Bingham offered the following substitute: 

That the representation of Hawaii shall be two delegates, provided that they 
shall not impair the rights and privileges of the six delegates already seated in this 
convention. 

Senator Foraker then said: "I do not see why, if this is to 
be now adopted, it should not be made to apply to Alaska, 
Arizona, and New Mexico as well, because they have no 
greater population, and neither New Mexico nor Arizona has 
any advantage over Hawaii, all being Territories alike." 

ROLL CALL IS DEMANDED 

To which Chairman Cannon replied: "The question is on 
the substitute offered by the gentleman from Pennsylvania. 
As many as are in favor will say Yes. Those opposed will say 
No. The yeas seem to have it." 

A roll call was demanded by delegates from California, 
Colorado, Ohio, and Pennsylvania and resulted as follows: 
Yeas, 497; nays, 490. 

The chairman then declared the substitute carried. Gen- 
eral Bingham moved the adoption of the report as amended, 
and it was carried. 

THE PLATFORM ADOPTED 

Senator Lodge of Massachusetts reported for the commit- 
tee on resolutions, and the platform was read. It will be found 
in another chapter. 

With cheering the platform was adopted on motion of 
Senator Lodge. 

The following dispatch from Washington was then read to 
the convention: 



THE SECOND DAY 261 

Secretary of State Hay has sent instnictions to Consul-General Gumniaie as 
follows: "We want either Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead." 

Prolonged cheering followed the reading of the bulletin. 

COMMITTEE TO FILL VACANCIES 

Reading Clerk MoUoy read the names of the members 
selected by the delegations as members of the national Repub- 
lican committee and honorary vice-presidents. Senator Gal- 
linger of New Hampshire offered the following resolution, 
which was unanimously adopted: 

Resolved, That the national Republican committee be and it is hereby empow 
ered to fill all vacancies in its membership. 

On motion of Senator Kean of New Jersey the convention 
adjourned until 10 a. m., Thursday. 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 

The Party's Record — Unhappy Conditions Met — The Gold Standard— Free 
Cuba — The Panama Canal — The Trusts Curbed — Tariff Plank — Foreign 
Markets — The Merchant Marine — To Maintain the Navy — The Foreign 
Policy — Confidence in Roosevelt. 

The following is the full text of the Republican platform 
as adopted by the convention: 

Fifty years ago the Republican party came into existence dedicated, among 
other purposes, to the great task of arresting the extension of human slavery. In 
iS6o it elected its first president. During twenty-four of the forty-four years 
which have elapsed since the election of Lincoln, the Republican party has held 
complete control of the government. For eighteen more of the forty-four years 
it has held partial control through the possession of cue or two branches of the 
government, while the Democratic party, during the same period, has had com- 
plete control for only two years. 

ADDS LUSTER TO RECORD 

This long tenure of power by the Republican party is not due to chance. 
It is a demonstration that the Republican party has commanded the confidence 
of the American people for nearly two generations to a degree never equaled in 
our history, and has displayed a high capacity for rule and government which 
has been made even more conspicuous by the incapacity and infirmity of pur- 
pose shown by its opponents. 

The Republican party entered upon its present period of complete supremacy 
in 1807. We have every right to congratulate ourselves upon the work since 
then accomplished; for it has added luster even to the traditions of the party 
which carried the government through the storms of civil war. 

We then found the country, after four years of Democratic rule, in evil 
plight, oppressed with misfortune, and doubtful of the future. Public credit had 
been lowered, the revenues were declining, the debt was growing, the adminis- 
tration's attitude toward Spain was feeble and mortifying, the standard of values 

262 



THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM J63 

was threatened and uucertain, labor was unerajilnyed, business was sunk in the 
depression which had succeeded the panic of i8g3, hope was faint, and confi- 
dence was gone. 

BAD SITUATION REMEDIED 

We met these unhappy conditions vigorously, effectively and at once. 

We replaced a Democratic tarifif law based on free trade principles and 
garnished with sectional protection by a consistent protective tariff, and industry 
freed from opposition and stimulated by the encouragement of wise laws has 
expanded to a degree never before known, has conquered new markets and has 
created a volume of exports which has surpassed imagination. Under the Ding- 
ley tarifif labor has been fully employed. 

Wages have risen and all industries have revived and prospered. 

GOLD STANDARD 

We firmly established the gold standard, which was then menaced with 
destruction. Confidence returned to business, and with confidence an unex- 
ampled prosperity. 

For deficient revenues, supplemented by improvident issues of bonds, we 
gave the country an income which produced a large surplus and which enabled 
us only four years after the Spanish war had closed to remove over $100,000,000 
of annual war taxes, reduce the public debt, and lower the interest charges of 
the government. 

The public credit, which had been so lowered that in time of peace a Demo- 
cratic administration made large loans at extravagant rates of interest in order 
to pay current expenditures, rose under Republican administration to its highest 
point and enabled us to borrow at 2 per cent even in time of war. 

CUBA SET FREE 

We refused to palter longer with the miseries of Cuba. We fought a quick 
and victorious war with Spain. We set Cuba free, governed the island for three 
years, and then gave it to the Cuban people with order restored, with ample 
revenues, with education and public he.alth established, free from debt, and con- 
nected with the United States by wise provisions for our mutual interests. 

We have organized the government of Porto Rico, and its people now enjoy 
peace, freedom, order, and prosperity. 

In the Philippines we have suppressed insurrection, established order, and given 
to life and property a security never known there before. We have organized civil 
government, made it effective and strong in administration, and have conferred 
upon the people of those islands the largest civil liberty they have ever enjoyed. 



264 THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 

By our possession of the Philippines we were enabled to take prompt and 
effective action in the relief of the legations at Pekin and a decisive part in prevent- 
ing the partition and in preserving the integrity of China. 

PANAMA CANAL PROJECT 

The possession of a route for an isthmian canal, so long the dream of American 
statesmanship, is now an accomplished fact. The great work of connecting the 
Pacific and Atlantic oceans by a canal is at last begun, and it is due to the Republi- 
can party. 

We have passed laws which will bring the arid lands of the United States within 
the area of cultivation. 

We have reorganized the army, and put it in the highest state of efficiency. 

We have passed laws for the improvement and support of the militia. 

We have pushed forward the building of the navy, the defense and the protec- 
tion of our honor and our interests. 

Our -idministration of the great departments of the government has been honest 
and efficient, and wherever wrongdoing has been discovered the Republican adminis- 
tration has not hesitated to probe the evil and bring offenders to justice without 
regard to party or political ties. 

CURBING THE TRUSTS 

Laws enacted by the Republican party which the Democratic party failed to 
enforce and which were intended for the protection of the public against the unjust 
discrimination or the encroachment of vast aggregations of capital have been fear- 
lessly enforced by a Republican president, and new laws, insuring reasonable pub- 
licity as to the operation of great corporations and providing additional remedies for 
the prevention of discrimination in freight rates, have been passed by a Republican 
congress. 

In this record of achievement during the last eight years may be read the 
pledges which the Republican party has fulfilled. We propose to continue these 
policies and we declare our constant adherence to the following principles: 

TARIFF PLANK 

Protection which guards and develops our industries is a cardinal policy of the 
Republican party. The measure of protection should always, at least, equal the 
difference in the cost of production at home and abroad. 

We insist upon the maintenance of the principles of protection, and, therefore, 
rates of duty should be readjusted only when conditions have so changed that the 
public interest demands their alteration. But this work cannot safely be committed 
to any other hands than those of the Republican party. To intrust it to the Demo- 



THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 265 

cratic party is to invite disaster. Whether, as in i8g2, the Democratic party 

declared the protective tariff unconstitutional or whether it demands tariflf reform or 

tarifif revision, its real object is always the destruction of the protective system. 

However specious the name, the purpose is ever the same. A Democratic tariff 

has always been followed by business adversity, a Republican tariflf by business 

prosperity. 

FOREIGN MARKETS 

To a Republican congress and a Republican president this great question can be 
safely intrusted. When the only free trade country among the great nations agi- 
tates a return to protection the chief protective country should not falter in main- 
taining it. 

We have extended widely our foreign markets and we believe in the adoption of 
all practicable methods for their further extension, including commercial reciprocity 
whenever reciprocal arrangements can be effected consistent with the principles of 
protection and without injury to American agriculture, American labor, or any 
American industry. 

We believe it to be the duty of the Republican party to uphold the gold standard 
and the integrity and the value of our national currenc)'. The maintenance of the 
gold standard, established by the Republican party, cannot safely be committed to 
the Democratic party, which resisted its adoption and has never given any proof 
since that time of belief in it or fidelity to it. 

NEED MERCHANT MARINE 

While every other industry has prospered under the fostering aid of Republican 
legislation, American shipping, engaged in foreign trade in competition with the low 
cost of construction, low wages, and heavy subsidies of foreign governments, has not 
for many years received from the government of the United States adequate encour- 
agement of any kind. We therefore favor legislation which will encourage and 
build up the American merchant marine, and we cordially approve the legislation of 
the last congress which created the merchant marine commission to investigate and 
report upon this subject. 

WILL MAINTAIN NAVY 

A navy powerful enough to defend the United States against any attack, to 
uphold the Monroe Doctrine, and watch over our commerce is essential to the safety 
and the welfare of the American people. To maintain such a navy is the fixed policy 
of the Republican party. 

We cordially approve the attitude of President Roosevelt and congress in regard 
to the exclusion of Chinese labor and promise a continuance of the Republican policy 
in that direction. 

The civil service law was placed on the statute books by the Republican party, 



266 THE REPUBLICAN PLATFORM 

which has always sustained it, and we renew our former declarations that it shall be 
thoroughly and honestly enforced. 

We are always mindful of the country's debt to the soldiers and sailors of the 
United States, and we believe in making ample provision for them in the liberal 
administration of the pension laws. 

We favor the peaceful settlement of international difference by arbitration. 
FOREIGN POLICY 

We commend the vigorous efforts made by the administration to protect Ameri- 
can citizens in foreign lands and pledge ourselves to insist upon the just and equal 
protection of all our citizens abroad. It is the unquestioned duty of the government 
to procure for all our citizens, without distinction, the rights of travel and sojourn in 
friendly countries, and we declare ourselves in favor of all proper efforts tending to 
that end. 

Our great interests and our growing commerce in the Orient render the condi- 
tion of China of high importance to the United States. We cordially commend the 
policy pursued in that direction by the administrations of President McKinley and 

President Roosevelt. 

DISFRANCHISING VOTERS 

We favor such congressional action as shall determine whether by special dis- 
criminations the elective franchise in any State has been unconstitutionally limited, 
and if such is the case we demand that representation in congress and in the elec- 
toral colleges shall be proportionately reduced as directed by the constitution of the 
United States. 

Combinations of capital and of labor are the results of the economic movement 
of the age, but neither must be permitted to infringe upon the rights and interests 
of the people. Such combinations when lawfully formed for lawful purposes are 
alike entitled to the protection of the laws, but both are subject to the laws and 
neither can be permitted to break them. 

TRIBUTE TO McKINLEY 

The great statesman and patriotic American, William McKinley, who was 
reelected by the Republican party to the presidency four years ago, was. assassinated 
just at the threshold of his second term. The entire nation mourned his untimely 
death and did that justice to his great qualities of mind and character which history 
will confirm and repeat. 

The American people were fortunate in his successor, to whom they turned with 
a trust and confidence which have been fully justified. President Roosevelt brought 
to the great responsibilities thus sadly forced upon him a clear head, a brave heart, 
an earnest patriotism, and high ideals of public duty and public service. True to the 
principles of the Republican party and to the policies which that party had declared. 



THE REPUBLICAN PLATEORM 267 

he has also shown himself ready for every emergency and has met new and vita! 
questions with abih'ty and with success. 

TRUST IN ROOSEVELT 

The confidence of the people in his justice inspired by his public career enabled 
him to render personally an inestimable service to the country by bringing about a 
settlement of the coal strike which threatened such disastrous results at the opening 
of the winter in igo2. 

Our foreign policy under his administration has not only been able, vigorous, 
and dignified, but in the highest degree successful. The complicated questions 
which arose in Venezuela were settled in such a way by President Roosevelt that the 
Monroe Doctrine was signally vindicated and the cause of peace and arbitration 
greatly advanced. 

His prompt and vigorous action in Panama, which we commend in the highest 
terms, not only secured to us the canal route but avoided foreign complications 
which might have been of a serious character. 

He has continued the policy of President McKinley in the Orient, and our posi- 
tion in China, signalized by our recent commercial treaty with that empire, has 
never been so high. He secured the tribunal by which the vexed and perilous ques- 
tion of the Alaskan boundary was finally settled. 

VOICE HEARD ABROAD 

Whenever crimes against humanity have been perpetrated which have shocked 
our people, his protest has been made and our good offices have been tendered, but 
always with due regard to international obligations. 

Under his guidance we find ourselves at peace with all the world, and never 
were we more respected or our wishes more regarded by foreign nations. 

Preeminently successful in regard to our foreign relations, he has been equally 
fortunate in dealing with domestic questions. The country has known that the pub- 
lic credit and the national currency were absolutely safe in the hands of his adminis- 
tration._ In the enforcement of the laws he has shown not only courage but the 
wisdom which understands that to permit laws to be violated or disregarded opens 
the door to anarchy, while the just enforcement of the law is the soundest conserva- 
tism. He has held firmly to the fundamental American doctrine that all men must 
obey the law, that there must be no distinction between rich and poor, between 
strong and weak, but that justice and equal protection under the law must be 
secured to every citizen without regard to race, creed, or condition. 

His administration has been throughout vigorous and honorable, high minded 
and patriotic. We commend it without reservation to the considerate judgment of 
the American people. 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

Ex-Governor Black Places Theodore Koosevelt in Nomination— Discord in 
the Democratic Party— Justice, Equality and Progress— The Republican 
Party Has Never Failed in a Crisis— Roosevelt No Stranger— Events 
Select the Strongest Man — Enthusiasm Eampant — The Seconding 
Speech of Senator Beveridge— George A. Knight Arouses the Conven- 
tion—Harry Stillwell Edwards Speaks for the South— Nomination of 
Charles W. Fairbanks— The Convention Adjourns. 

The third and last session of the Republican National 
Convention was called to order at 10.30 a. m., Thursday morn- 
ing. At the conclusion of the opening prayer, Chairman Can- 
non presented the following announcement to the reading 
clerk: 

"On July 6th, at Jackson, Michigan, there will be celebrated 
the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the Republican party, 
the time when and the place where it received its name. 
Secretary Hay will deliver the principal address. Senator 
Fairbanks and others will address the meeting." 

Then followed an announcement that the recently elected 
Republican National Committee would meet in the Coliseum 
Annex immediately on the adjournment of the convention. 

CALLING THE ROLL 

Chairman Cannon at once announced tnat the next order 
of business would be a rollcall of the States for the nomination 
of President of the United States. The clerk called 'Ala- 
bama," and immediately Oscar R. Hundley, of that State, 

268 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 269 

mounted a chair and announced that Alabama requested the 
honor and privilege of yieldinj^ its place on the roll to the 
State of New York. Instantly the convention was in an 
uproar. The New York delegates waved their flags and 
shouted wildly. Ex-Governor Frank S. Black of New York, 
who was to deliver the nominating speech in behalf of Presi- 
dent Roosevelt, immediately started for the platform amid 
wild enthusiasm on the part of the delegates. As he reached 
the desk of Mr. Cannon he was warmly greeted by the chair- 
man and escorted down to the front of the platform. Here 
Chairman Cannon, standing by the side of Mr. Black, in a few 
words introduced him to the convention. 

EX-GOVERNOR BLACK'S SPEECH 

A succession of shouts from the convention, a chorus of 
shrieks from the New York delegation, a paroxysm of tossing 
flags, then silence, and Mr. Black began his speech in behalf 
of President Roosevelt. He said: 

Mr. President and Gentlemen cf the Convention: We are here to inaugurate a 
campaign which seems already to be nearly closed. So wisely have the people sowed 
and watched and tended, there seems little now to do but to measure up the grain. 
They are ranging themselves not for battle, but for harvest. In one column, reach- 
ing from the Maine woods to the Puget Sound, are those people and those States 
which have stood so long together that when great emergencies arise the nation 
turns instinctively to them In this column, vast and solid, is a majority so 
overwhelming that the scattered squads in opposition can hardly raise another 
army. 

THE ENEMY DESTITUTE OF WEAPONS 

The enemy have neither guns nor ammunition, and if they had they would use 
them on each other. Destitute of the weapons of eflfective warfare, the only evi- 
dence of approaching battle is in the tone and number of their bulletins. There is 
discord among the generals; discord among the soldiers. Each would fight in his 
own way, but before assaulting his Republican adversaries he would first destroy 
his own comrades in the adjoining tents. Each believes the weapons chosen by the 
other are not only wicked, but fatal to the holder. That is true. 



270 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

THE BOOMERANG SUBSTITUTED FOR THE GUN 

This is the only war of modern times where the boomerang has been substituted 
for the gun. Whatever fatalities may occur, however, among the discordant hosts 
now moving on St. Louis, no harm will come this fall to the American people. 
There will be no opposition sufficient to raise a conflict. There will be hardly 
enough for competition. There are no Democratic plans for the conduct of the fall 
■jampaign. Their zeal is chiefly centered in discussion as to what Thomas Jefferson 
would do if he were living. He is not living, and but few of his descendants are 
among the Democratic remnants of to-day. Whatever of patriotism or wisdom 
emanated from that distinguished man is now represented in this convention. 

It is a sad day for any party when its only means of solving living issues is by 
guessing at the possible attitude of a statesman who is dead. This condition leaves 
that party always a beginner and makes every question new. The Democratic party 
has seldom tried a problem on its own account, and when it has its blunders have 
been its only monuments ; its courage is remembered only in regret. As long as 
these things are recalled that party may serve as ballast, but it will never steer the 
ship. 

THE DEMOCRATIC MOTTO, "FORGET" 
When all the people have forgotten will dawn a golden era for this new Democ- 
racy. But the country is not ready yet to place a party in the lead whose most 
expressive motto is the cheerless word "forget." That motto may express con- 
trition, but it does not inspire hope. Neither confidence nor enthusiasm will 
ever be aroused by any party which enters each campaign uttering the language 
of the mourner. 

There is one fundamental plank, however, on which the two great parties are 
in full agreement. Both believe in the equality of men. The difference is that the 
Democratic party would make every man as low as the poorest, while the Repub- 
lican party wou'd make every man as high as the best. But the Democratic course 
will provoke no outside interference now. for the Republican motto is that of the 
great commander, "Never interrupt the enemy while he is making a mistake." 

AN EXAMPLE OF UNITY 

In politics as in other fields, the most impressive arguments spring from con- 
trast. Never has there been a more striking example of unity than is now afl'orded 
by this assemblage. You are gathered here not as factions torn by discordant 
views, but moved by one desire and intent ; you have come as the chosen represent- 
atives of the most enlightened party in the world. Vou meet not as strangers, for no 
men are strangers who hold the same beliefs and espouse the same cause. You may 
separate two bodies of water for a thousand years, but when once the barrier is 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 271 

removed they mingle instantly and are one. The same traditions inspire and the 
same purposes actuate us all. Never in our lives did these purposes stand with 
deeper root than now. At least two generations have passed away since the origin 
of that g^eat movement from which sprang the spirit which has been the leading 
impulse in American politics for half a century. In that movement, which was both 
a creation and an example, were those great characters which endowed the Repub- 
lican party at its birth with the attributes of justice, equality and progress, which have 
held it to this hour in line with the highest sentiments of mankind. From these men 
we have inherited the desire, and to their memory we owe the resolution, that those 
great schemes of government and humanity, inspired by their patriotism, and estab- 
lished by their blood, shall remain as the fixed and permanent emblem of their labors, 
and the abiding signal of the liberty and progress of the race. 

REPUBLICANS NEVER FAIL IN CRISES 

There are many new names in these days, but the Republican party needs no 
new title. It stands now where it stood at the beginning. Memory alone is needed 
to tell the source from which the inspirations of the country flow. A drowsy mem- 
ory' would be as guilty now as a sleeping watchman when the enemy is astir. The 
name of the Republican party stands over every door where a righteous cause was 
born. Its members have gathered around every movement, no matter how wealc, if 
inspired by high resolve. Its flag for more than fifty years has been the sign of hope 
on every spot where liberty was the word. That party needs no new name or plat- 
form to designate its purposes. It is now, as it has been, equipped, militant and in 
motion. The problems of every age that age must solve. Great causes impose 
great demands, but never in any enterprise have the American people failed, and 
never in any crisis has the Republican party failed to express the conscience and 
intelligence of that people. 

The public mind is awake both to its opportunities and its dangers. Nowhere 
in the world, in any era, did citizenship mean more than it means to-day in America. 
Men of courage and sturdy character are ranging themselves together with a 
unanimity seldom seen. There is no excuse for groping in the dark, for the light is 
plain to him who will but raise his eyes. The American people believe in a man or 
party that has convictions and knows why. They believe that what experience has 
proved it is idle to resist. A wise man is any fool about to die. But there is a wis- 
dom which, with good fortune, may guide the living and the strong. That wisdom 
springs from reason, observation and experience. Guided by these this thing is 
plain, and young men may rely upon it, that the history and purposes I have 
described, rising even to the essence and aspirations of patriotism, find their best 
concrete example in the career and doctrines of the Republican party. 



272 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

A COMMON PURPOSE 

But not alone upon the principles of that party are its members in accord. With 
the same devotion which has marked their adherence to those principles, magnifi- 
cent and enduring as they are, they have already singled out the man to bear their 
standard and to lead the way. No higher badge was ever yet conferred. But, 
great as the honor is, the circumstances which surround it make the honor even more 
profound. You have come from every State and Territory in this vast domain. 
The country and the town have vied with each other in sending here their contribu- 
tions to this splendid throng. Every highway in the land is leading here and 
crowded with the members of that great party which sees in this splendid city the 
symbol of its rise and power. Within this unexampled multitude is every rank and 
condition of free men, every creed and occupation. But to-day a common purpose 
and desire have engaged us all, and from every nook and corner of the country rises 
but a single choice to fill the most exalted office in the world. 

ROOSEVELT IN PEACE AND WAR 

He is no stranger waiting in the shade, to be called suddenly mto public light. 
The American people have seen him for many yeai^s, and always where the fight 
was thickest and the g;reatest need was felt. He has been alike conspicuous in the 
pursuits of peace and in the arduous stress of war. No man now living will forget 
the spring of '98, when the American mind was so inflamed and American patriotism 
so aroused; when among all the eager citizens surging to the front as soldiers, the 
man whom this convention has already in its heart was among the first to hear the 
call and answer to his name. Preferring peace, but not afraid of war; faithful to 
every private obligation, yet first to volunteer at the sign of national peril ; a leader 
in civil life, and yet so quick to comprehend the arts of war that he grew almost in a 
day to meet the high exactions of command. There is nothing which so tests a man 
as great and unexpected danger. He may pass his life among ordinary scenes, and 
what he is or does but few will ever know. But when the crash comes or the flames 
break out, a moment's time will single out the hero in the crowd. A flash of light- 
ning in the night will reveal what years of daylight have not discovered to the eye. 
And so the flash of the Spanish war revealed that lofty courage and devotion which 
the American heart so loves, and which you have met again to decorate and recog- 
nize. His qualities do not need to be retold, for no man in that exalted place since 
Lincoln has been better known in everj- household in the land. He is not conserva- 
tive, if conservatism means waiting till it is too late. He is not wise, if wisdom is 
to count a thing a hundred times when once will do. There is no regret so keen in 
man or country as that which follows an opportunity unembraced. Fortune soars 
with high and rapid wing, and whoever brings it down must shoot with accuracy 




ALBKRT J. REVERTDOK 

U>'ITED STATI-:;.'-i;!Si:NATOK FIx'O.M INnlAXA 




HBNRY C. IA)DGJ<: 
VrSTTED STATES SENATOR FKOM MASSACHUSETTS 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 273 

and speed. Only the man with steady eye and nen-e, and the courage to pull the 
trigger brings the largest opportunities to the ground. He does not always listen 
while all the sages speak, but every day at nightfall beholds some record which, if 
not complete, has been at least pursued with conscience and intrepid resolution. 

ONE MAN ONLY— ROOSEVELT 

He is no slender flower swaying in the wind, but that heroic fiber which is best 
nurtured by the mountains and the snow. He spends little time in review, for that. 
he knows, can be done by the schools. A statesman grappling with the living 
problems of the hour, he gropes but little in the past. He believes in going ahead. 
He believes that in shaping the destinies of this great republic hope is a higher 
impulse than regret. He believes that preparation for future triumphs is a more 
important duty than an inventory of past mistakes. A profound student of history. 
he is to-day the greatest history-maker in the world. With the instincts of the 
scholar, he is yet forced from the scholar's pursuits by those superb qualities which 
fit him to the last degree for those great world currents now rushing past with larger 
volume and more portentous aspect than for many years before. The fate of 
nations is still decided by their wars. You may talk of orderly tribunals and learned 
referees; you may sing in your schools the gentle praises of the quiet life; you may 
strike from your books the last note of ever>- martial anthem, and yet out in the 
smoke and thunder will always be the tramp of horses and the silent, rigid, upturned 
face. Men may prophesy and women pray, but peace will come here to abide for- 
ever on this earth only when the dreams of childhood are the accepted charts to 
guide the destinies of men. Events are numberless and mighty, and no man can 
tell which wire runs around the world. The nation basking to-day in the quiet of 
contentment and repose may still be on the deadly circuit and to-morrow writhing in 
the toils of war. 

GREAT FIGURES IN FRONT 

This is the time when great figures must be kept in front. If the pressure is 
great, the material to resist it must be granite and iron. Whether we wish it or 
cot, America is abroad in this world. Her interests are in every street, her name is 
on every tongue. Those interests, so sacred and .stupendous, should be trusted only 
to the care of those whose power, skill and courage have been tested and approved. 
And in the man whom you will choose the highest sense of every nation in the 
world beholds a man who typifies as no other living American does the spirit and 
the purposes of the twentieth century. He does not claim to be the Solomon of his 
time. There are many things he m.ay not know, but this is sure, that above all 
things else he stands for progress, courage and fair play, which are the synonyms 
of the American name. 



274 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

There are times when great fitness is hardly less than destiny, when the ele- 
ments so come together that they select the agent they will use. Events sometimes 
select the strongest man, as lightning goes down the highest rod. And so it is with 
those events which for many months with unerring sight have led you to a single 
name which I am chosen only to pronounce; Gentlemen, I nominate for President 
of the United States the highest living type of the youth, the vigor and the promise 
of a great country and a great age, Theodore Roosevelt, of New York. 

THE CONVENTION IN AN UPROAR 

Mr. Black retired quickly from the platform, but the words 
"Theodore Roosevelt" had not left his lips when there was a 
shout. The convention was on its feet. Like the crash of 
thunder that follows the lightning, the enthusiasm began. 
Flags were in the air, hats were thrown up, men jumped onto 
their chairs, and women stood and shouted. The air was rent 
with one continuous, prolonged shout from thousands of 
throats. So mighty was the volume of noise that nothing 
definite in the way of articulate sound was distinguishable. 

Black left the stage with the greatest applause of the con- 
vention rattling and banging around him. New York was the 
most animated aggregation of sedate citizens who ever were 
led to riot as the merry populace in a play. Their part in it 
was not put on the stage. It went in front of the curtain. It 
eclipsed every other uproar in the hall, and the total volume 
was something which threatened to shatter the skylights. 

ENTHUSIASM IN THE NEW YORK DELEGATION 

Cornelius Bliss was on a chair, waving a flag and making 
motions with his lips which led to the suspicion that he was 
cheering. Senator Piatt was on the floor, but he had his flag 
and was using it. Elihu Root was as demonstrative as a col- 
lege boy at a football game. They were the quiet ones of the 
delegation. 

Senator Chauncey Depew was an elderly whirlwind and 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 275 

Governor Odell a juvenile one. It was a tremendous spec- 
tacle of dignity on a spree. Their statesman was the man 
nominated, and their statesman was the man who had done it. 
New York's place was right in the limelight, and New York 
occupied it. 

"Roosevelt, Roosevelt, Roosevelt of New York." They 
sang it lustily, beating time with their flags. And New York 
was confined in a small part of a great hall, and everywhere 
were yelling spectators. 

In the galleries spectators were waving handkerchiefs and 
applauding; on the floor delegates were waving flags and yell- 
ing; up in the band-stand under the roof the band was play- 
ing, but nothing but an occasional note could be heard; on the 
platform the "distinguished guests" were yelling; men, 
women, and children were yelling. It wasn't hysteria, but it 
was a fair example of what nine thousand can do when they 
all yell at once and all keep on yelling. 

SCENE OF WILD ENTHUSIASM 

From his desk Cannon advanced along the gangway. He 
carried a torn flag fastened to a pole which had been snapped 
in the middle and bound together. He waved this flag over 
the New York delegation. Children with flags were raised to 
the platform. 

From behind the stage two men rushed forward carrying a 
gigantic picture of the President. It swayed uncertainly in 
their hands as they ran through the crowd on the stage and 
out on the gangway. Two other men went to their support 
and the four managed to hold it up to view, turning it to all 
quarters of the hall. During five minutes the applause and 
yelling had been continuous. 



276 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

New York left its seats and massed in the aisles. Cannon 
became hemmed in by the men with the picture and was 
forced to crawl under it to escape. Alaska started a tour of 
the hall, with the eagles mounted on totem poles held high in 
the air. A young man with a megaphone climbed to the 
stage and led a series of yells of "Roosevelt! Roosevelt!" 
During ten minutes the yelling had been continuous. 
STILL THE UPROAR CONTINUES 

Cannon came back out of the gangway with his torn flag 
and waved it. Men were congratulating Black as he made 
his way back to the New York delegation. Mayor Harrison 
was sizing up the performance and admitting to himself that 
for a cut and dried convention this exhibition did fairly well. 
For fifteen minutes the applause had been continuous. 

A little girl, Louise Roberts, from the California delega- 
tion, was held up to the convention on the shoulders of a man 
standing on the stage. Another little girl, Naomi De Foe, 
from the Michigan delegation, was placed beside her. Both 
were waving flags. On the floor and in the galleries the dele- 
gates and spectators still shouted. The men with the picture 
were making a circuit of the hall. 

When, after twenty-three minutes of tumult and cheering, 
Chairman Cannon finally secured order, the secretary read a 
history of the flag which Mr. Cannon had been waving. 
Grasping the flag and waving it over his head, Mr. Cannon 
said: "It prophesied victory in i860; its life has been baptized 
on many a battlefield since, and it is safe in the hands of 
President Roosevelt." 

Cheers followed and were increased when Mr. Cannon 
recognized Senator Beveridge of Indiana, whom he intro- 
duced in these words: 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED itj 

Gentlemen of the Convention. I have the honor of introducing to you a gentle- 
man whom you all know, a son of Indiana, who, when he has a message, insists 
upon a hearing, and when lie speaks the people are enlightened and enthused. 

Mr. Beveridge spoke with force and increasing enthusiasm, 
emphasizing his points with a gesture with the right hand. 
His voice was easily heard. He said: 

ADDRESS OF SENATOR BEVERIDGE 

Gentlemen of the Convention: One difference between the opposition and our- 
selves is this; They select their candidate for the people, and the people select our 
candidate for us. This was true four years ago, when we accepted the people's 
judgment and named William McKinley, whose perfect mingling of mind and heart, 
of wisdom and of tenderness, won the trust and love of the nation then and makes 
almost holy his memor}^ now. His power was in the people's favor, his shrine is in 
the people's hearts. It is true to-day when we again accept the people's judgment 
and name Theodore Roosevelt, whose sympathies are as wide as the republic, whose 
courage, honesty and vision meet all emergencies, and the sum of whose qualities 
make him the type of twentieth century Americanism. And the twentieth centurj- 
American is nothing more than the man of '76 facing a new day with the old faith. 
THE NOMINEE OF THE AMERICAN FIRESIDE 

Theodore Roosevelt, like William McKinley, is the nominee of the American 
fireside. So were Washington and Jefferson in the early time; so was Andrew Jack- 
son when he said, "The Union; it must be preserved"; so was Abraham Lincoln 
when, the republic saved, he bade us "bind us the nation's wounds" ; and Grant 
when, from victory's very summit, his lofty words, "Let us have peace," voiced the 
spirit of the hour and the people's prayer. When nominated by parties, each of 
these great presidents was, at the periods named, already chosen by the public judg- 
ment. And so to-day, the Republican party, whose strength is in its obedience to 
the will of the American people, merely executes again the decree which comes to it 
from the American home in naming Theodore Roosevelt as our candidate. 

The people's thought is his thought ; American ideals, his ideals. This i.s his 
only chart of statesmanship— and no other is safe. For the truest guide an Ameri- 
can president can h.ave is the collective intelligence and massed morality of the 
American people. And this ancient rule of the fathers is the rule of our leaders now.. 

A LEADER WHO LEADS 

Theodore Roosevelt is a leader who leads, because he carries out the .settled pur- 
poses of the people. Our President's plans, when achieved, are always found to be 
merely the nation's will accomplished. And tliat is why the people will elect liiin. 



278 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

They will elect him because they know that if he is president we will get to work 
and keep at work on the canal. After decades of delay, when the people want a 
thing done they want it done. They know that while he is president the flag will 
"stay put," and no American advantage in the Pacific or the world be surrendered. 
Americans never retreat. 

While he is president no wrongdoer in the service of the government will go 
unwhipped of justice. Americans demand honesty and honor, vigilant and fearless. 
While he is president readjustment of tariflf schedules will be made only in harmony 
with the principles of protection. Americans have memories. While he is presi- 
dent peace with every nation will be preserved at any cost, excepting only the sacri- 
fice of American rights, and the \'igor with which he maintains these will be itself a 
guarantee of peace. The American people will elect him because, in a word, they 
know that he does things the people want done ; does things, not merely discusses 
them— does things only after discussing them— but does things, and does only those 
things the people would have him do. This is characteristically American, for 
wherever he is the American is he who achieves. 

HIS POSITION PLAIN ON ALL QUESTIONS 

On every question all men know where he stands. Americans, frank them- 
selves, demand frankness in their servants. Uncertainty is the death of business. 
The people can always get along if they know where they are and whither they are 
going. 

His past is his proof. Every great measure of his administration was so wise 
that, enthusiastically sustained by his own party, it won votes even from the opposi- 
tion. Do you name Cuban reciprocity? The opposition resisted, and then opposi- 
tion votes helped to ratify it Do you name corporate legislation? The opposition 
resisted, and then opposition votes helped to enact it. Do you name the canal— that 
largest work of centuries, the eternal wedding of oceans, shrinking the circumfer- 
ence of the globe, making distant peoples neighbors, advancing forever civilization all 
around the world? This historic undertaking in the interest of all the race, planned 
by American statesmanship, to be vrrought by American hands, to stand through the 
ages protected by the American flag; this vast achievement which will endure when 
our day shall have become ancient, and which alone is enough to make the name of 
Theodore Roosevelt illustrious through all time— this fulfillment of the Republic's 
dream accomplished by Republican eflfort, finally received votes even from an oppo- 
sition that tried to thwart it. 

Of what measure of Theodore Roosevelt's administration does the opposition 
dare even to propose the repeal? And when has the record of any president won 
greater approval? 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 279 

THE PEOPLE LOVE HIM 

And so the people trust him as a statesman. Better than that, they love him as 
a man. He wins admiration in vain who wins not affection also. In the American 
home — that temple of happiness and virtue, where dwell the wives and mothers of 
the republic, cherishing the beautiful in life and guarding the morality of the 
nation — in the American home the name of Theodore Roosevelt is not only honored, 
but beloved. And that is a greater triumph than the victory of battlefields, greater 
credit than successful statesmanship, greater honor than the presidency itself would 
be without it. Life holds no reward so noble as the confidence and love of the 
American people. 

The American people! The mightiest force for good the ages have evolved! 
They began as children of liberty. They believed in God and His providence. 
Thej' took truth and justice and tolerance as their eternal ideals and marched fear- 
lessly forward. Wildernesses stretched before them — they subdued them. Mountains 
rose — they crossed them. Deserts obstructed — they passed them. Their faith 
failed them not, and a continent was theirs. From ocean to ocean cities rose, fields 
blossomed, railroads ran ; but everywhere church and school were permanent proof 
that the principles of their origin were the life of their maturity. 

American methods changed, but American character remained the same. They 
outlived the stage-coach, but not the Bible. They advanced, but forgot not their 
fathers. They delved in earth, but remembered the higher things. They made 
highways of the oceans, but distance and climate altered not their Americanism. 
They began as children of liberty, and children of liberty they remain. They began 
as servants of the Father of Light, and His servants they remain. And so into 
their hands is daily given more of power and opportunity that they may work even 
larger righteousness in the world and scatter over ever-widening fields the blessed 
seeds of human happiness. 

WONDERFUL PROGRESS 

Wonderful oeyond prophecy's forecast their progress; noble beyond the vision of 
desire their future. In i8oi Jefferson said, "The United States (then) had room 
enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation." Three 
generations behold the oceans our boundaries. Washington never dreamed of 
railways. To-day electricity and steam make Maine and California household 
neighbors. This advance, which no seer could have foretold, we made because we 
are Americans — because a free people with unfettered minds and unquestioning 
belief joyfully faced the universe of human possibilities. These possibilities are not 
exhausted. We have hardly passed their bound;iries. The American people are not 
exhausted; we have only tested our strength. God's work for us in the world is not 



28o THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

finished; His future missions for tlie America-n people will be grander than any He 
has given us, nobler than we now can comprehend. And these tasks as they come 
■we will accept and accomplish as our fathers accomplished theirs. And when our 
generation shall .have passed and our children shall catch from our aging bands the 
standard we have borne, it will still be the old flag of Yorktown and Appomattox 
and Manila Bay; the music to which they in their turn will then move onward will 
still be the strains that cheered the dying Warren on Bunker Hill and inspired the 
men who answered Lincoln's call; and the ideals that will be in them triumphant as 
they are in us will still be the old ideals that have made the American people great 
and honored among the nations of the earth. 

THE AMEEICANISM OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

This is the Republican idea of the American people ; thi.s the thought we have 
when we nominate to-day our candidate for the nation's chief ; this the quality of 
Americanism a Republican standard-bearer must have. And this is just the Ameri- 
canism of Theodore Roosevelt. Full of the old-time faith in the republic and its 
destiny; charged with the energy of the republic's full manhood; cherishing the 
ordinances of the republic's fathers and having in his heart the fear of God; inspired 
by the sure knowledge that the republic's splendid day is only in its dawn, Theodore 
Roosevelt will lead the American people in paths of safety to still greater welfare 
for themselves, still broader betterment of the race and to the added honor of the 
American name. Therefore Indiana seconds the nomination of Theodore Roosevelt. 

When the convention had expressed its appreciation of 
Indiana's second to the nomination Chairman Cannon 
announced that George A. Knight of CaHfornia would also 
second the nomination. The California delegation showed 
that it was prepared for the occasion. The old stage-coach, 
long-drawn yell, "Wahoo!" echoed through the hall, and a 
banner, followed by a huge wreath of flowers, was borne 
through the hall as Mr. Knight proceeded to the platform. 
Mr. Knight was introduced by Chairman Cannon. He had a 
voice which penetrated the furthest recesses of the hall and 
rolled back in echoes from the arched iron roof. As he began 
some one at the back of the hall shouted, "Not so loud!" 
This was a touch which the convention appreciated, and there 
was a hearty laugh. Mr. Knight said: 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 281 

MR. KNIGHT'S SPEECH 

Gentlemen of the Convention; Geography has but little to do with the senti- 
ment and enthusiasm that is to-day apparent in favor of the one who is to be given 
all the honors and duties of an elected president of the United States of America. 
However, the Pacific slope and the islands (those ocean buoys of commerce moored 
in the drowsy tropical sea) send to this convention words of confident greeting, with 
discreet assurance that your judgment will be indorsed by the American voter and 
our country continue its wonderful progress under Republican rule. 

The time is ripe for brightenmg up Americanism, to teach with renewed 
vigor the principles of individual liberty for which the Minute Men of the Revolution 
fought — the Lincoln liberty, an individual liberty for the man, not a black alone, 
any men, all men; the right to labor in the air of freedom unmolested, and be paid 
for his individual toil and with it build his cottage home. From the press, the pul- 
pit, the schoolhouse, the platform and the street let the true history of our country be 
known, that the young men and women of America, and many old ones, may know 
what a price has been paid for the liberty, peace and union they enjoy through the 
devoted patriotism of our silent heroes of the past, 

DEPRIVATION AND SACRIFICE ENDURED 

Deprivation and sacrifice were endured for many years before the old bell in the 
State House was given the voice to speak the glorious sentiment of the age and pro- 
claim liberty throughout all the land, and they were made the instruments by which 
the principles productive of our national grandeur were set as jewels in our repub- 
lic's coronet. What we prayed for, fought for, bled for and died for we want cared 
for. Telegraph the world that the Republican party was the first organization that 
beckoned the laboring man to his feet and made him know the quality and equality 
of his true self. It showed him the possibilities of honest poverty, and has withheld 
nothing from his worthy ambition. It took a rail splitter from the ground floor of 
a log cabin and set him with the stars. 

Protection to American labor and our natural resources, climate, soil, agricultural 
and mineral wealtli, navigable rivers and safe harbors, wise laws and clean public 
men, have made us the greatest nation on earth to-day. In territory we have out- 
grown the continent; we are peopling the isles of the sea. 

Thus said the Lord, a great eagle with great wings, long-winged and full of 
feathers, which had divers colors, came unto Lebanon and took the highest branch of 
the cedar. He cropped off the top of its young twigs and carried it into a land of 
traffic; he set it in a city of merchants; he took also of the seed of the land and 
planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it across great waters and set it as a willow 
tree. 



282 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

How like unto our emblem of freedom he has cropped off the young twigs of our 
cedar of liberty and carried them across the ocean to the land of traffic and set them 
in the city of merchants! The seed of our land is there among fruitful fields, beside 
great waters and set as a willow tree. 

HE HYPNOTIZES OBSTACLES 

Our country is big and broad and grand; we want a president typical of the 
country, one who will preserve her history, enforce her law, teach Americanism and 
fight the wrong. Theodore Roosevelt, thou art the man. Well may he be proud ; 
he is young, the pride of life is his and time is on his side; he loves the whole 
country and knows no favorite section ; he has performed his sacred promise ; he 
has kept the faith with McKinley's memory, and novsr faces responsibilities his own. 
He hypnotizes obstacles, looks them in the eye and overpowers with self-conscious 
honesty of purpose. 

Dishonesty, cowardice and duplicity are never impulsive ; Roosevelt is impulsive, 
so be it — he is different. From a Democratic point of view, he is a weird magician 
of politics. They charged him with disrupting a government on the isthmus, cre- 
ating a republic and unlawfully conniving at a canal. They awoke one fine morning 
to find the republic of Panama an entity, its existence recognized by foreign nations 
and Congress paying out millions of dollars to ratify his strategic promptness. 

UNCLE SAM WANTED THE JOB 

He wanted to give Uncle Sam a job, and he did it. and Uncle Sam wanted the 
job and he took it. He belongs to the union. We see him standing to-day with his 
feet upon the spade ; his garments are made of his flag ; his inventive Yankee whis- 
kers are bushed; there is an American smile on his face and his heart is gladdened 
as he looks at the golden .sunrise of his commercial future. Barnacle-bottomed ships 
of the gTeat salt sea will greet the great Father of Waters and make every town on 
his banks a maritime city. The owner of the farm, factory and mine will become 
familiar with names they never knew and write strange addresses on the exports 
they send across the unharvested ocean. Australia, New Zealand, Yokohama, 
Hongkong, Manila, Honolulu and Corea will be some of the new names the new 
South will be glad to know, and their children will bless the President that gave 
them their wonderful opportunities of trade. The blessings of this great work 
cannot be told in words, and figures will get wabbly and unsteady with their 
load when you chalk them on the blackboard of time. 

We want this younger Lincoln — this keeper of our great eagle — we want him 
with his hands on the halyards of our flag; we want him the defender of our 
constitution and the executive of our law, and when we have used him and the 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 283 

best years of his young manhootl for the good of the nation, he will still be 
holding our banner of liberty, with stars added to its azure field, its history 
sacred, its stripes untarnished, and by command of the majority hand it to the 
American patriot standing next in line. 

AN OVATION TO MR. KNIGHT 

Mr. Knight was surrounded by an enthusiastic throng as 
he left the platform. Senator Scott of West Virginia threw 
his arms around him and hugged him enthusiastically. The 
California delegation, with the great gold banner, started on 
a brief parade, but it was soon over, and Chairman Cannon 
announced the next speaker, Harry Stillwell Edwards. 

The speech of Mr. Edwards was eminently satisfactory, 
and he was frequently interrupted by applause. He said: 

MR. EDWARDS SPEAKS FOR THE SOUTH 

It is eminently fit and proper that a Georgian should on this occasion second 
the eloquent speaker from New York, that the voice of the motherland should 
blend with the voice of the fatherland to declare that the destinies of America 
shall for four years more be intrusted to the great son born of the union of the 
two Empire States. 

I do not belittle the influence of a father when I say that if the iron in a 
son's nature be derived from him, the gold is coined from the heart of the 
mother whose lap has cradled him. And because I believe this, because the lesson 
at the mother's knee is the seed that sends a stalk toward heaven and opens far up 
its au.xiliary blossoms in the morning light, because the lofty ideals of manhood are 
rooted deeper than youth, because that which a man instinctively would be has been 
dreamed for him in advance by a mother, I claim for Georgia the larger share in the 
man you have chosen your leader. 

GEORGIA CLAIMS THE LARGER SHARE 

The childhood of the good woman who bore him was cast near where the 
Atlantic flows in over the marsh and the sand. There she first built her a home in 
the greatness of God. Womanhood found her within the uplifting view of the 
mountains in a land over which the Almighty inverts a sapphire cup by day and 
sets His brightest stars on guard by night. And there, fellow countrymen, the soul 
of your President was born. Those of us who know and love him catch in the easy 
flow of his utterance and feel in its largeness of thought and contempt of littleness 



284 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

the rhythm of the ocean nn the Georgian sands and the spirit of tlie deep. In his 
lofty ideals and hopefulness, in his fixedness of purpose and unchanging, rock-ribbed 
honesty we hear the mountains calling. In his daring, his impulsive courage, his 
unconquerable manhood, we see his great brother, the Georgia volunteer, in the 
hand-to-hand fights of the wilderness, the impetuous rush up the heights of Gettys- 
burg and the defiance of overwhelming odds from Chattanooga to Atlanta. We look 
on him as a Georgian abroad ; and if, in the providence of God, it may be so, we 
shall welcome him home some day — not as a prodigal son who has wasted his man- 
hood, but as one who on every field of endeavor has honored his mother and worn 
the victor's vpreath. 

A MASTER STROKE OF GENIUS 

Coming into the position of the martyred McKinley, the youngest chief magis- 
trate that has ever filled the presidential chair, without the privilege and advantage of 
preliminary discussion and consultation, he gave the country a pledge that he would 
carry out the policies of his predecessor. It was a master stroke of genius, 
applauded alike North and South. His conception of the duties of his high oSice, 
as enunciated by him at Harvard, was "to serve all alike, well; to act in a spirit of 
fairness and justice to all men, and to give each man his rights." He has kept his 
pledge; he has lived up to this fine conception of his duty. This pledge involved a 
completion of the work begun in Cuba and an honorable discharge of the promises 
made to our struggling neighbor. The flag of an independent republic floats over 
Havana to-day, and all men know that we have kept faith with the Cuban people. 
Leaving the details to engineers, he has cut as by a single stroke the Panama Canal 
through mountains of prejudice and centuries of ignorance. In the far Philippines 
our flag floats, a guarantee of redemption, pacification and development. His con- 
ception of duty has led him into diflScuIt places in dealing with the internal affairs of 
our own country ; he has met every issue bravely and ably and demonstrated not only 
that prompt and decided action is often the highest expression of conservatism, but 
that it is safe to trust the impulse of a man who is essentially and instinctively- 
honest. 

THE APPLAUSE OF MANLY HEARTS 

Fellow countrymen, after nearly four years of Theodore Roosevelt, we find the 
army and navy on a better footing, our trade expanded, the country at peace and 
prosperous and our flag respected in every quarter of the globe. The American 
people will not withhold from him the applause of manly hearts. I am proud that 
my State, the Empire State of the South, shares in the glory of his achievements, as 
it will share in their benefits. 

It is not pretended that the section from which I come to you is, as a section, in 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 285 

sympathy with your political party. But I am as sure as that I stand here that the 
great majority of intelligent business men in the South are in sympathy with the 
controlling principles of your platform and opposed to those of your opponents as 
last declared. And I am equally sure that they recognize and respect the fearless 
honesty of your leader. Headlines are not history, nor does the passionate partisan 
write the final verdict of a great people. History, despite the venom of the small 
politician, will do him the justice to record that he has'gone further than any man 
who has occupied the White House since the Civil War to further the vital interests 
of the South. The standard of appointments has been the same for Georgia as for 
New York. He has insi-sted on efficiency and integrity as the chief tests, North and 
South alike. Of the thousand or more original postoffice appointments in Georgia 
under his administration, not one has, within my knowledge, been criticised by even 
the unfriendly and partisan press of the State. A Southern man, General Wright, 
by his appointment holds the honor of this country in trust in the far Philippines, 
and on him your President relies for the advancement and development of the 
7,000,000 people who are there working out their destinits. Two judges of first 
instance, one a Democrat and one a Republican, and both from Georgia, are there 
by his appointment to administer the laws. In the army there and here, in the navy 
and in all the divisions of the civil government Southern men have felt the friendly 
touch of his hand. The character of these appointments and the whole policy give 
the lie to those designing knaves who charge him with stirring up strife between 
races and arraying section against section. "I am proud of your great deeds; for 
•you are my people." This was his greeting to a Southern audience, and no honest 
man doubts that he meant it. 

THE SOUTH BELIEVES IN ROOSEVELT 

The South shares in the magnificent prosperity vi-hich our great country has 
achieved under the Republican party. Especially has she felt the beneficial effect 
of your policies during the last eight years, and the hardest fact your opponents 
have to contend with is the fact that your financial policy has been tested and found 
to be sound and efficient. They have sufficed for eight years at least, and the 
Democratic partisan who has twice in that time been led captive behind the silver 
car of Bryan inust be optimistic beyond expression if he believes that the country 
will suffer alarm over the prospect of four years more of prosperity. The South 
deals in cotton goods, cottonseed products, coal, iron, oil and lumber, and business 
enterprises in connection with these and other industries have increased and multi- 
plied. Traveling from Washington to Macon, one is never off a first-class railroad 
nor long out of sight of the smoke of a mill. The people who conduct these and kin- 
dred enterprises, who are raising cotton at from ten to si.xteen cents a pound, wheat 



286 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

at from seventy-five cents to one dollar a bushel; whose coal, iron and lumber are in 
demand throughout the world, whose home market is assured, and whose lands are 
rapidly increasing in value, are not alarmed over the prospect of another Republican 
victory under Roosevelt. They are not alarmed over the digging of a canal at 
Panama that will give them direct communication with five or six hundred millions 
of people who need the products of their fields and factories. Nor are they alarmed 
that increased railway and river transportation will be required to move these prod- 
ucts to Southern ports, or that from these ports, under a Republican administration, 
yellow fever, the South's dread enemy, has been banished, millions saved annually 
to the taxpayer and the business year raised from nine months to twelve. 

A DISTRUST OF DEMOCRATIC POLICIES 

The prosperity of the South is wrapped up in the politics of the Republican 
party, and the Southern people are beginning to realize it. Southern business senti- 
ment indicates an increasing distrust of the policies of the Democratic party. In 
i8g6 Georgia, accustomed to enormous Democratic majorities, gave 94,000 votes for 
Bryan and 60,000 for McKinley. North Carolina cast 174,000 votes for Bryan and 
155.000 for McKinley. Virginia gave 154,000 votes for Bryan and 135,000 for McKin- 
ley. And this was according to Democratic counts. Maryland and West Virginia 
cast Republican majorities in both 1896 and 1900. In Virginia, Georgia and North 
Carolina in 1900 12 to 15 per cent of the people who had voted in 1S96 stayed away 
from the polls and sacrificed their last opportunity to worship the "popular idol." 
An analysis of election returns shows that the distrust of Democracy was most pro- 
nounced and conspicuous in centers of trade, manufactures and commerce. 

Fellow countrymen, we of the South believe in Roosevelt and in his ability to 
meet every issue at home and abroad triumphantly. We believe that he is animated 
by a spirit of patriotism as broad and as bright as has ever streamed from the White 
House over our beloved country ; and we believe that when he has fulfilled his mis- 
sion, he, the son of the North and South, will carry with him the consciousness that 
fatherland and motherland, once divorced in sadness, through him and because of 
him have been drawn together again in the bonds of the old affection. And we 
believe that when he goes at length into the retirement of private life he will go 
beloved of all patriotic Americans, from Canada to the Gulf, and from ocean to 
ocean. Mr. Chairman, in half of the motherland, I second the nomination of Theo- 
dore Roosevelt. 

BRADLEY REPRESENTS KENTUCKY 

Former Governor Bradley of Kentucky was next intro- 
duced as coming from that State and of that people who take 
their politics, like their whisky, straight. He said: 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 287 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention : The Republican party has 
made no mistakes, consequently it has no apologies to offer. The Republican party 
has broken no promises; therefore it enters no plea of confession and avoidance. 
Its only guaranty for the future is the record of its past. 

During all these eventful years the Democratic party has resisted e\-ory step of 
advancement or improvement. They have been stupid objectors, miserable mal- 
contents, and common scolds. They have abandoned their Moses and have been 
unable to discover a Joshua. 

UNSAFE ONLY TO TRICKSTERS 

We are told by his enemies that the President is unsafe. He is unsafe only to 
the trickster, to the grafter, to the man who would deny the equal protection of law 
to any class of American citizens. They tell us that he cannot be trusted ; but the 
people know that one who does a right thing at the right time and in the right way 
is entitled to vast, implicit confidence. 

In Kentucky, my friends, we have contended with principalities and powers and 
the rulers of darkness. We have fought with all manner of beasts— not at Ephesus. 
but at Frankfort— but we are nerving ourselves for the conflict in November and we 
hope that we will break the chains that partisan legislation has thrown around us 
and restore freedom to the .State which gave birth to Abraham Lincoln, and holds 
within itself the ashes of Henry Clay. 

COTTON PUTS MINNESOTA IN LINE 

Joseph B. Cotton of Minnesota was the next speaker. He 
said in part: 

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention: Seconding speeches here are 
of no moment, for the nomination already has been made by the American people 
themselves. No words of any man are needed to tell you that he is preeminently 
qualified to be our great leader. 

The State of Minnesota, the mighty empire of the Northwest, whose growth and 
prosperity will ever keep full pace with the giant trade of the nation itself, desires to 
second the nomination of that intrepid leader, that potent statesman and doer of 
things, that greatest workman upon the greater America— Theodore Roosevelt. 

NEGRO DELEGATE IS SPEAKER 

The chairman then introduced Harry S. Cummings of 
Maryland, a colored delegate, who spoke as follows: 

Gentlemen of the Convention: I have been adm.onished that the greatest serv- 
ice I can do the great American people to-day. and the opportunity of my life to 



288 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

make a hero of myself, is to speak as short as possible. It becomes the duty of this 
convention to-day to nominate a gentleman who shall lead the great Republican 
host to victory in the coming contest; a man who stands and measures up in every 
particular to the responsibility of the high office of president of the grandest republic 
upon which the sun ever has shone. In our present chief executive, he has been 
named, and so surely as he will be nominated by this convention to-day, just so 
surely will he be elected by the people in November. 

ROLL CALL IS UNANIMOUS 

When the applause subsided the chairman announced that 
the clerk would call the roll. Every State cast its vote for 
Theodore Roosevelt. When New Jersey was reached, Gov. 
Franklin Murphy said: "Mr. Chairman, New Jersey asks 
unanimous consent that the further calling of the roll be dis- 
pensed with." 

There was such decided opposition to Governor Murphy's 
motion that he did not press it, and the calling of the roll was 
proceeded with. 

For Texas, Charles A. Boynton announced: "Texas casts 
her thirty-six votes for her adopted son, the 'rough rider,' who 
went from the Alamo to San Juan Hill." 

"The total number of votes in the convention is 994," 
announced Speaker Cannon. "Theodore Roosevelt has 994 
votes. It only remains for me to announce that Theodore 
Roosevelt of the State of New York is your candidate for the 
presidency for the term commencing on March 4, 1905." 

The roll was then called for the nomination of candidates 
for the vice-presidency. Alabama again yielded precedence; 
this time to the State of Iowa. Senator Dolliver placed Sen- 
ator Fairbanks in nomination. He spoke as follows: 

SENATOR DOLLIVER'S SPEECH 

Gentlemen of the Convention : Everything in this convention has gone smoothly 
and easily because the American people did their thinking on these subjects before 
they commissioned us to come here and transact their business. 




UNITED STATES SENATOR FROM MAINK 




JOHN C. SPOONER 

TTXITED STATES SENATOR FROM WlSCOJfStSf 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 289 

Our hearts are saddened by the circumstance that the last four years have been 
strangely stricken in the organization and leadership of the Republican party. 
Governor Dingley is dead and gone; his name rendered immortal by legislation 
which began the miracle of industrial and commercial progress which opened the 
twentieth centurj- in the United States. We miss calm Reed, who put an end to 
anarchy in the house of representatives. 

ERA OF YOUNGER LEADERS 

We are, in a sense— all hail to the old leaders of the Republican party— we are 
in a sense face to face with a new era in the political history of the United States, an 
era that shall take its character from the traditions of the Republican party and 
from the personality of men bom since 1850. 

That is the signiiicance, in part, at least, of the unanimous nomination of Theo- 
dore Roosevelt as president of the United States, and that, also, is the significance 
of the unanimity with which this convention, interpreting the will of the American 
people, has called into its service and is about to commission as his associate for the 
guidance and leadership of the Republican party, Charles W. Fairbanks, our candi- 
date for vice-president. 

A farmer boy, a student making his way through college, a country lawyer, a 
statesman, a leader of the Republican party, fit for any of its great responsibilities, 
I nominate this great Republican and this representative type of the best there is in 
the Republicanism of our times — Senator Fairbanks of Indiana. 

SENATOR DEPEW FOLLOWS 

Cheers and applause followed until Chairman Cannon 
finally succeeded in securing order and introduced Senator 
Depew of New York. 

Senator Depew was received with applause and friendly 
cries from all parts of the house. One remark coming from a 
delegate, 'Have you had your dinner?" the senator selected 
and used as a text and said: 

My friend wants to know if I have had my dinner ; but what I am about to say 
is in behalf of dinners for the American people. I cannot help contrasting, in listen- 
ing to the eloquence with which we have been privileged this morning, what will be 
the difiference when our Democratic friends meet on July 6th to go through with their 
duty of nominating candidates and adopting platforms. We here have been unani- 
mous as to our candidates, all agreed upon our principles, all recognizing and 



290 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

applauding our great statesmen, living and dead, and agreeing with them. In that 
convention there will be the only two living exponents of Democratic principles. 

On the one side will be Democracy's only president rising and saying, "Be 
sane." On the other side, in opposition, will come their last candidate for president, 
saying, "Be Democrats." The two are incompatible. 

ILLUSTRATES WITH A STORY 

Now, my friends, while we present the positive, the convention which meets on 
July 6th represents that element unknown heretofore in American politics, the oppor- 
tunist. It is waiting for bankruptcy, waiting for panic, waiting for industrial depres- 
sion, waiting for financial distress. 

There was an old farmer upon the Maine coast who owned a farm with a rocky 
ledge running out into the ocean called Hurricane Point, and on it ships were 
wrecked and he gathered his harvest from the wrecks, and in his will he wrote: "I 
devise my farm equally among my children, but Hurricane Point shall be kept for 
all of you forever, for while the winds blow and the waves roll the Lord will 
provide." 

But we have put a lighthouse on Hurricane Point, a lighthouse of protection, 
with a revolving light shedding gold over the ocean, and American commerce going 
and coming is absolutely safe. 

OF FULL PRESIDENTIAL SIZE 

Now, gentlemen, it is my privilege in looking for vice-presidential possibilities to 
announce what you all know, that we have found a vice-presidential candidate of 
full presidential size. Every one knows that if the towering figure of Theodore 
Roosevelt had been out of this canvass one of the promising candidates before con- 
vention for president of the United States would have been Charles W. Fairbanks. 

New York, appreciating his great ability as a lawyer, appreciating the national 
name he has made for himself as a senator, appreciating his dignity, his character, 
and his genius for public affairs, seconds the nomination of Charles W. Fairbanks 
for vice-president of the United States. 

FORAKER ADDRESSES CONVENTION 

Senator Foraker of Ohio then was introduced and spoke 
as follows: 

Gentlemen of the Convention: We have come here to do three things: Make 
a platform, name the next president of the United States, and also name the next 
vice-president of the United States. We have done two of these things and are 
about to do the third. And we have done both of the things well. 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 291 

On the ticket with Theodore Roosevelt as his associate for the presidency we 
want to place a man who represents in his personality, in his beliefs, in his public 
service, in his high character, all this splendid record the Republican party has 
made, all these great declarations of these former platforms; and a man who will 
tj-pify, as the leader of our ticket will, the highest ambition and the noblest purposes 
of the Republican party of the United States. 

I will not stand here and detain you with a eulogy of Senator Fairbanks beyond 
simply saying that to all who know him personally, as those of us who have been 
closely associated with him in the public service, he meets all the requirements so 
eloquently stated by Senator Depew. 

PENNSYLVANIA'S GOVERNOR IS NEXT 

Governor Pennypacker of Pennsylvania, who made the 
next seconding speech, said: 

Gentlemen of the Convention : Pennsylvania recalls that Abraham Lincoln and 
Uncle Joe Cannon, both of them wanderers from the South to reach distinction in 
the North, before they came to Illinois had a preliminary training in Indiana. 

She remembers that when her own senator, he who did so much for the Repub- 
lican party and whose wise counsels, alas, are missing to-day, bore the commission to 
Washington, he had no more earnest supporter than the able and distinguished sen- 
ator who then, as now, represented Indiana in the senate. Pennsylvania, with the 
approval of her judgment, with glad anticipations cf victory in her heart, seconds 
the nomination for the vice-presidency of Charles W. Fairbanks of Indiana. 

CARTER SPEAKS FOR MONTANA 

Former Senator Thomas H. Carter of Montana, who fol- 
lowed, said: 

Gentlemen of the Convention: It will at once be consoling and reassuring to 
you for me to announce that I do not rise to make a speech, but to make a deliberate 
announcement. You will all remember how eight years ago the intermountain 
country, theretofore solidly Republican, became tempest-tossed and discredited. 
It will be remembered with regret that since iSg2 Republican electoral votes in the 
Rocky Mountain country have been few and far between. I am here to-day to say 
to you that from the Canadian line to the south line of the Colorado and from the 
Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean every electoral vote will be cast for Theodore 
Roosevelt. 

Of all those who have been sympathetic through good and evil report, while 
standing inflexible for the cardinal principles of the party, one of the strongest and 



292 THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 

most comforting of all who have helped has been Charles Fairbanks of Indiana, 
whose nomination I second. 

FAVORITE SONS ARE DROPPED 

Chairman Cannon asked if there were any further nomina- 
tions, and then said that by unanimous consent the further 
call of the States would be dispensed with. Senator Depew 
then asked unanimous consent that the roll call be suspended 
and that Senator Fairbanks' nomination be made by a unani- 
mous vote. W. P. Miles of Nebraska objected and seconded 
the nomination in behalf of his State. L. W. Parker of Mis- 
souri followed and withdrew the name of Cyrus Wallbridge as 
its candidate. The chairman then said: "Is there objection? 
The chair hears none, and it only remains for the chair to 
declare that Charles W. Fairbanks of the State of Indiana is 
the candidate for vice-president for the term beginning March 
4, 1905, by the unanimous choice of the convention." 

ASSIGNS HEADS OF COMMITTEES 
The following resolution, offered by Senator Dolliver, then 
was adopted : 

Resolved, That the permanent chairman of this convention, the Hon. Joseph G. 
Cannon of Illinois, be appointed chairman of the committee to notify the Hon. 
Theodore Roosevelt of his nomination for president, and that the temporary chair- 
man, the Hon. Elihu Root of New York, be appointed chairman of the committee to 
notify the Hon. Charles W. Fairbanks of his nomination for vice-president ; and that 
the committee notify the candidate for president on July 2-th and the candidate for 
vice-president on August 3d. 

Senator Heyburn of Idaho offered the following resolution, 
which was adopted: 

Resolved, That the thanks of this convention are tendered to the temporary, the 
permanent chairman, the secretary and his assistants, the sergeant at arms, and his 
deputies, the tally and reading clerks, the official reporters, and their messengers. 



THE CANDIDATES NOMINATED 293 

Another resolution, offered by Governor Murphy of New 
Jersey and adopted, was: 

Resolved, That the thanks of this convention are hereby tendered to the Hon. 
h>.mr.el B. Raymond, chairman, and the members of the Chicago committee on 
arrangement, the members of the sub-committee of the Republican national commit- 
tee, and the citizens of Chicago, for the hospitable and perfect provision made for 
the sessions of the convention, and the entertainment of the delegates, alternates, 
and visitors. 

The clerk then read the Hst of the committees to notify the 
nominees. On motion of Graeme Stewart the convention 
adjourned sine die at 2:26 p. m. 



CHAPTER XX 
THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 

President Roosevelt's First Message— Entertains Prince Henry of Prussia 
—Cuban Reciprocity— The Great Anthracite Coal Strike— The Vene- 
zuelan Affair— The Alaskan Boundary— The Panama Canal— PostofBce 
Frauds— The Railroad Merger Defeated— The Hay Note. 

The three years of President Roosevelt's first administration 
were eventful ones in the history of the country, and it has 
been said that few presidents were ever called upon to settle 
so many momentous questions. Theodore Roosevelt, for one 
thing, will go down to history as the American president in 
whose hands Congress placed the lump sum of $180,000,000, 
told him to select a route, and dig the Panama Canal. There 
were no restrictions. He was told to choose his own engi- 
neers, to make his own contracts. More than that, after he 
had negotiated and secured the right of way, thus adding a 
strip of territory to American possessions, Congress told him 
to make such laws for the government of that territory as he 
saw fit. What ruler among all the great of the earth has ever 
been freely vested with so tremendous a responsibility? 
FIRST MESSAGE CONSERVATIVE 

President Roosevelt's first message was read in Congress 
on the first Tuesday in December, 1901. It was one of the 
most vigorous presidential messages ever read to the repre- 
sentatives of the people. It was outspoken, and yet conserva- 
tive. It called for a vigorous, honest administration of the 
affairs of every department of the government; was out- 

294 



THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 295 

spoken in its friendship for labor; promised the reorganization 
of the army, urged the strengthening of the navy, and above 
all voiced the American desire for peace with all nations. 

ENTERTAINS PRINCE HENRY 

Early in 1902 President Roosevelt was called upon by inter- 
national courtesy to entertain as the nation's guest Prince 
Henry of Prussia, brother of the emperor of Germany, who 
visited the United States, accompanied by a number of the 
most distinguished statesmen, admirals, and generals. The 
ostensible purpose of Prince Henry's visit was to be present at 
the launching of the kaiser's American-built yacht Meteor. 
The real reason, however, was to cement the bonds of friend- 
ship between the United States and the German empire. 

CUBAN RECIPROCITY BILL 

In his first message to Congress President Roosevelt 
urged the passage of the Cuban reciprocity bill. The House 
passed the bill on April 18, 1902, but it failed to secure the 
approval of the Senate. Its failure in the Senate marked the 
beginning of a friendly contest between Congress and the 
President, in which the President, who appealed to the people, 
eventually won. 

On May 20, 1902, President Roosevelt handed over to a 
Cuban president and a Cuban congress the government of the 
Cuban republic. From January i, 1898, until May 20, 1902, 
Cuba had been under the military rule of the United States. 
The island wrested from Spain by the American army and 
navy was destined by Congress under the Teller resolution, 
passed in April, 1897, to become a republic free and independ- 
ent among all the nations of the earth. When Spanish author- 
ity ended on the island, of government there was none. 



296 THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT REDEEMED THE PLEDGE 

The Cubans had to be taught how to govern themselves. 
Under the direction first of Major-General Brooke and then 
of Major-General Leonard Wood, the Cubans were educated 
in the science of government. These officers taught the 
Cubans how to collect revenue, to police cities, to conduct a 
postal department, to manage free schools, to conserve public 
health. On May 20, 1902, the American flag was lowered and 
Cuba took her place among the free nations of the earth. 
President Roosevelt had redeemed the pledge made by 
Congress. 

Congress adjourned on July i, 1Q02, having failed to pass 
the Cuban reciprocity treaty. This marked the beginning of 
President Roosevelt's campaign for the treaty. He was sin- 
cere in his belief that American honor and obligation to an 
infant republic was involved, and he had no hesitancy in 
appealing to the people for their support. So confident was 
he of the ultimate result that he sent Tasker H. Bliss to Cuba 
with instructions to negotiate a reciprocity treaty with the new 
republic. 

THE ANTHRACITE COAL STRIKE 

In the meantime President Roosevelt was engaged in the 
settlement of one of the most serious problems of domestic 
policy that ever threatened American industrial supremacy. 
This was the great anthracite coal strike of 1Q02. 

The memory of the paralyzing effect of the now famous 
strike is still fresh in the minds of the American people. For 
154 days — nearly half a year — it demoralized the industries of 
the country. Before it ended, the country faced a coal famine 
that threatened to paralyze every industry east of the Missis- 
sippi River. Mines were closed, steel plants shut down, fac- 



THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 297 

tories idle. The strike had cost railroads, manufacturers, and 
merchants altogether the enormous sum of $200,000,000. A 
vast army of 185,000 miners were idle, and to that number 
were added daily thousands of workmen from factories and 
steel plants that had been compelled to close down. 

There have been other strikes as serious in the history of 
the country. The memory of the Homestead strike in 1892 is 
still fresh and there had been a reign of lawlessness and ter- 
ror in Pittsburg in 1875, when scores of lives had been sacrificed 
and millions of dollars' worth of property destroyed. Presi- 
dent Roosevelt determined that the country should not wit- 
ness another Homestead horror, and when every other effort 
to settle the strike of IQ02 had failed he summoned the owners 
of the anthracite coal mines to a conference at the White 
House. 

AGREED TO THE PRESIDENT'S ARBITRATION 

John Mitchell, president of the United Mine Workers, par- 
ticipated in the conference. The mine owners refused to arbi- 
trate, and insisted that President Roosevelt should send 
federal troops into the mining region, overawe the strikers, 
and, in fact, open the mines to non-union labor at the point of 
the bayonet and the muzzle of the gatling gun. 

On the other hand, John Mitchell, one of the ablest organ- 
izers and leaders of union labor in the country, offered to sub- 
mit the whole controversy — wages, hours of labor, recognition 
of the union, and all^to the arbitration of President Roose- 
velt, agreeing in advance to abide by his decision. 

Everybody knows how the controversy ended. The mine 
owners were finally compelled to agree to President Roose- 
velt's proposals and the whole controversy was settled by a 
board of arbitration selected by the President. The miners 



298 THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 

won on nearly every point, and from that day down to the 
present there has not been a dispute between the anthracite 
operators and miners. 

THE VENEZUELAN INCIDENT 

The Venezuelan affair came up in the closing weeks of 
IQ02. It was a notable incident in American history, for it 
enabled President Roosevelt to secure from the European 
powers a more cordial recognition of the Monroe Doctrine 
and at the same time to give that famous American principle 
new and broader interpretation. 

It is not necessary to refer here to the events leading up to 
the Venezuelan incident. On December 7, 1902, a fleet made 
up of British and German warships appeared at La Guayra. 
On the evening of that day both nations presented ultimatums 
to President Castro, demanding the payment of debts long 
overdue to citizens of Great Britain and Germany. Both 
nations had secured the assent of the United States to their 
program, which included the probable seizure of one or two 
Venezuelan ports and their occupation until the collection of 
customs revenue sufficed to pay the claims. The right of 
foreign powers to adopt this course with Central and South 
American republics has never been questioned. 

Venezuela, however, refused to submit tamely to the Anglo' 
German program. President Castro called out an army of 
200,000 men and prepared to fight. Germany and Great 
Britain, to their overwhelming surprise, found that their plans 
for a peaceful blockade had gone awry and that they were 
engaged in actual war with the hot-headed South American 
republic. And it was like real war. Venezuelan warships 
were captured and scuttled, ports were bombarded, and people 
were killed. 



THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 



299 



More than that, Germany and Great Britain declared a 
blockade of the Venezuelan coast and began to lay plans for 
landing an army and fighting a way across the mountains to 
Caracas. 

THE MONROE DOCTRINE INTERPRETED 
This simply meant indefinite occupation of the soil of an 
American republic by a European power, and President 
Roosevelt refused to permit it. On the night of December 
14th the ambassadors of Great Britain and Germany at Wash- 
ington were handed memorandums to the following effect: 

It must be understood that the United States could not give its consent to any 
extension of the international right of peaceful blockade. 

In other words, President Roosevelt informed the powers 
of Plurope that they would not be permitted to make war upon 
an American republic for the sake of collecting a debt. 

That ended the Venezuelan affair. Great Britain and 
Germany protested that they had no intention of infringing 
upon the Monroe Doctrine. They withdrew their fleets and 
settled with Venezuela by negotiation, United States Minister 
Bowen, with the consent of President Roosevelt, acting as the 
representative of the South American republic. 

ALASKAN BOUNDARY ARBITRATED 

The negotiation of the Alaskan boundary arbitration con- 
vention was coincident with the settlement of the Venezuelan 
affair. President Roosevelt, in negotiating with the British 
ambassador, stated the limit of the concessions the United 
States was willing to make. He would submit the controversy 
to a tribunal of six men, three to be named by the United 
States and three by Great Britain. The proposal was 
accepted, and President Roosevelt named as the American 
commissioners Elihu Root, Senator Lodge, and ex-Senator 



300 THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 

Turner. The joint commission met in London on September 
3, IQ03, and on October 20th following gave its decision in 
favor of the United States. 

The year 1903 was full of the events that go to make up 
the history of a nation. Not only was the Alaska boundary 
settled for all time to come, but the first Panama Canal treaty 
with Colombia was negotiated. The President's fight for 
reciprocity with Cuba was won, the army reorganization bill 
passed, a large increase made in the navy. These matters 
occupied the attention of Congress for the first three months 
of the year. 

HUNTS DOWN POSTOFFICE FRAUDS 

The sensational feature of the year was the investigation 
of frauds which had crept into the postoffice department and 
from small beginnings had grown into formidable proportions. 
This investigation was made by direction of President Roose- 
velt. It continued for several months and resulted in the 
indictment of a number of officials and the removal of others. 
Among those indicted were James N. Tyner, assistant attorney- 
general for the postoffice department, who was for several 
months postmaster-general under President Grant and who 
had been connected with the department since 1861. A. W. 
Machen, general superintendent of the free delivery system, 
was removed from office and indicted on fourteen counts. 
George W. Beavers, general superintendent of salaries and 
allowances, was removed and indicted on eight counts. 

Other officials indicted were: J. T. Metcalf, superintendent 
of the money order system; Daniel V. Miller, assistant 
attorney; Louis Kempner, superintendent of the registry sys- 
tem; Charles Hedges, superintendent of the cit}' free delivery 
service; and seven other minor officials, together with a num- 



THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 301 

ber of contractors outside of the department. Some of these 
officials have been tried and convicted and others acquitted. 
Some are waiting trial. Under the vigorous policy of Presi- 
dent Roosevelt dishonesty and incompetency were weeded out 
of the department and its administration placed above 
suspicion. 

RECOGNIZES REPUBLIC OF PANAMA 

The closing month of 1903 was an epoch-marking December 
for the United States, for in that month President Roosevelt, 
seizing the opportunity presented by the secession of Panama 
from Colombia, negotiated the treaty which finally after many 
decades of effort gave the United States the right to build 
and own the Panama Canal. 

EXTRA SESSION FOR CtJBAN RECIPROCITY 

President Roosevelt won his fight for Cuban reciprocity 
in the closing months of 1903. The treaty negotiated by 
Tasker H. Bliss was ratified, with amendments by the Senate, 
March 29. The amendments provided for action by the 
House. The House was unable to reach the question before 
adjournment. 

President Roosevelt summoned an extra session of 
Congress, which met November 9. Ten days later, November 
ig, the House passed the resolution ratifying the treaty by a 
vote of 385 to 21. The Senate passed the Reciprocity Bill 
December 16, and the treaty went into effect December 27, 
1903. Time already has justified President Roosevelt's Cuban 
policy. The trade between the United States and Cuba is 
growing larger month by month. 

One of the features of President Roosevelt's administration 
was his attack upon the proposed consolidation of two 
great competing transcontinental lines of railway, the North- 



302 THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 

ern Pacific and the Great Northern, described in another 
chapter. 

On February lo, 1904, upon the outbreak of war between 
Japan and Russia, the United States Government, through its 
Secretary of State, John Hay, issued a statement to the 
powers of the world defining the position of this country in 
the matter of the integrity of China. This statement will go 
down in history as the "Hay note." It was issued after our 
Secretary of State had obtained a number of preliminary 
exchanges of views between this government and the other 
governments interested in Chinese affairs and in keeping the 
commerce of that country open. The note, which was senl 
to Ambassador McCormick, our diplomatic representative at 
St. Petersburg, and Minister Griscom, our representative at 
Tokio, as well as to the other leading European powers, and 
to Pekin, China, follows: 

THE FAMOUS HAY NOTE 

"You will express to the minister for foreign affairs the 
earnest desire of the Government of the United States that in 
the course of the military operations which have begun 
between Russia and Japan the neutrality of China and in all 
practicable ways her administrative entity shall be respected 
by both parties, and that the area of hostilities shall be 
localized and limited as much as possible, so that undue 
excitement and disturbance of the Chinese people may be 
prevented and the least possible loss to the commerce and 
peaceful intercourse of the world may be occasioned. 

"(Signed) John Hay." 

At the same time this government informed all the povv^ers 
signatory of the protocol at Pckin of its action, and 
requested similar action on their part. 



THROUGH ONE ADMINISTRATION 303 

A DIPLOMATIC TRIUMPH 

In the above short note Secretary Hay added another to 
his long list of diplomatic triumphs, and the United States was 
once more enabled by his diplomacy to head the nations in a 
concurrent effort to preserve the integrity of China. Mr. 
Hay's note to Russia and Japan, urging them to confine 
hostilities within as small an area as possible and to respect 
the neutrality and administrative entity of China, was accepted 
by Russia as well as by Japan, and all the nations have 
joined the Washington Government in inviting the combatants 
to agree to the proposition. 



CHAPTER XXI 
BIOGRAPHY OF THE HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

Republican Nuiniuee fur Vice-President. 

A son of Ohio, of Puritan ancestry, Charles Warren Fair- 
banks early attained prominence as a lawyer in Indianapolis, 
and has been a United States Senator since 1897. He secured 
his education by his own exertions, and had decided on the 
law as a profession before he entered college. Senator Fair- 
banks was born near Unionville Centre, Union County, Ohio, 
May II, 1852. He is descended in the eighth generation from 
Jonathan Fayerbanks, who settled in Dedham, Massachusetts, 
in 1636. From the old Bay State the ancestors of Senator 
Fairbanks went to Vermont, and it was from that State that 
his father went to Ohio in 1836 and settled on a farm and also 
worked at wagonmaking. 

EARLY LIFE 

When the future Senator was a baby he was rocked in a 
sugar trough to which home-made rockers had been attached, 
and as he advanced in boyhood he was taught that what his 
hand found to do he must do with his might. His parents 
were earnest Methodists and encouraged his ambition to 
secure an education. He diligently attended the district 
school, and in the summer he worked on the farm and at his 
father's trade of wagonmaking. At the age of fifteen he left 
his home and, with forty-one dollars, which he had saved 
from what his father had paid him, in the pockets of his only 
suit of clothes, he went to Delaware, Ohio, and entered the 

305 



3o6 BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAHIBANKS 

Ohio Wesleyan University. There he and his roommate 
boarded themselves, and young Fairbanks found employment 
with a carpenter on Saturdays by reason of his familiarity 
with the use of tools. He was also ready to do any work 
about the college which he could find to do, and in the 
summer vacations he worked in the harvest field at his home. 
In his senior year he was one of the editors of the college 
newspaper, "The Western Collegian." He was graduated 
with the degree of A.B. in 1872, and went to Pittsburg, where 
he began the study of law, at the same time supporting himself 
by doing newspaper work for The Associated Press. A year 
later he entered a law school in Cleveland, and did similar 
work. It was in 1874 that he was admitted to the bar at 
Columbus, Ohio. 

HIS MARRIAGE 

While in college he had met Miss Cornelia Cole, who was 
a co-editor with him on the college paper. In the same year 
that he was admitted to the bar they were married, and went 
to Indianapolis to make their permanent home. The young 
lawyer was aided in securing a practice by his uncle, the late 
William Henry Smith, who was interested in railroads, and he 
soon became one of the most successful railroad lawyers in 
the State. With increased income he became a resident of 
the most fashionable part of the city. His other uncle, 
Charles W. Smith, was engaged in so many railroad 
enterprises that he had much legal business for his nephew 
to attend to. Thus, even before 1874, when Mr. Fairbanks 
brought his newly wedded wife to Indianapolis, he was doing 
well in his profession. 



BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBAxXKS 307 
FOUNDATION OF HIS FORTUNE 

The railroad business in the Hoosier State was at that 
period in the most favorable condition for the activities of a 
young railroad lawyer. Then was begun a series of railroad 
mergers, and Senator Fairbanks had much to do with the 
business. He had many important clients and earned some 
very large fees. His remuneration for single cases is said to 
have been as much as $150,000, and it may be stated positively 
that he earned one fee of $100,000 in connection with the 
reorganization of the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton. 
Thus was provided the foundation of his fortune, a fortune by 
no means so large as most people imagine. 

HIS FINANCIAL INTERESTS 

It is probable that Mr. Fairbanks is worth from $600,000 to 
$800,000. He is interested in the Spring Foundry Company, 
the Fairbanks Machine and Tool Company, has very 
profitable holdings in the Oliver Typewriter Works, a few 
building lots in Indianapolis, his modest frame dwelling in 
that city, some railroad shares, and a large farm in Pyatt 
County, near Bloomington, 111. One of the big deals in which 
he was recently largely interested was the sale of the 
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton to a syndicate headed by 
Frederick A. Prince, of Boston, which owned the Pere 
Marquette Railway. Mr. Fairbanks is a friend of Henry 
Shoemaker, who was president of the executive board of the 
Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton, and the two men had 
much to do with the arranging for the sale. 

A CONSERVATIVE BUSINESS MAN 

Mr. Fairbanks is, therefore, a safe, sane and conservative 
business man, for though his fortune does not reach the 



3o8 BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

million mark, he has had sufficient experience with large 
business enterprises to be in thorough sympathy with the 
commercial interests of the country, and to have their 
confidence. 

A fair and conservative analysis of the strength of Senator 
Fairbanks may be given in the words of a well-informed 
Republican, who said: "Three-quarters of the older men are 
enthusiastic, and one-quarter of the younger men." A 
source of Mr. Fairbanks' strength is Mrs. Fairbankr., 
President-General of the Daughters of the American Revolu- 
tion, a very gracious lady and quite as good a politician as her 

husband. 

MRS. FAIRBANKS A DIPLOMAT 

When they came to Indiana, Mrs. Fairbanks joined a 

number of clubs. Her husband has always been possessed of 

the old-fashioned idea that husband and wife should spend a 

great deal of their time together, and so there are no stag 

affairs given at the Fairbanks home in Washington. But 

though he will not entertain his male friends without their 

wives, Mr. Fairbanks has raised no objection to his wife's 

participation in affairs exclusively managed by women folk. 

Or, perhaps, it may have been that Mrs. Fairbanks had a 

great deal to say about it, for it is a fact that she is a woman 

strong-minded and given to having her way, at least outside 

of the family circle. She is a diplomat of very high order. 

HIS WIFE'S ACHIEVEMENTS 

The principal work which Mrs. Fairbanks has done aside 
from that of the Daughters of the American Revolution has 
been in connection with the junior republic located at 
Annapolis Junction. At this settlement 3/oung boys are 
trained in the work of men bv sham battles of life in whicti 



KlOGRAl'liV OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 309 

they have their own improvised currency. Mrs. F"airbanks is 
patroness of this movement, but there is a man at the head 
of it. Four years she has been President-General of the 
Daughters of the American Revolution, and she was largely 
responsible for the establishment of the new memorial 
hall which was recently dedicated in Washington. Her work 
has been mainly the selecting and marking of historic spots. 
THE FAIRBANKS FAMILY 

The younger element in the Fairbanks family is quite 
promising. There are four sons living, one of whom, Warren 
C, recently married Miss Ethel Cassidy, of Pittsburg, and is 
director of the Oliver Typewriter Works, in Chicago. The 
other three boys are still studying. Frederick C. graduated 
last year from Princeton, and since then engaged in a law 
course at Columbia University, Washington. Richard is a 
junior at Yale, and Robert a student at Phillips Andover 
Academy. 

The only daughter, Miss Adelaide, is the eldest of the 
children. Only last September she became the bride of En- 
sign John W. Timmons, U.S.N., who hails from Chillicothe, 
O., and met Miss Fairbanks first at the Ohio Wesleyan. 

The other member of the family circle of Senator 
Fairbanks is his mother, now nearly seventy-five years old, 
who spends the winter with her son's family in Washington 
and the rest of the year with her daughter, Mrs. M. L. 
Milligan, of Springfield, O. Mrs. Milligan is the Senator's 
only sister, and the wife of former Mayor M. L. Milligan, of 
Springfield, president of the Springfield Foundry Company 
and other manufacturing plants. 

The Senator has also three brothers, W. D. Fairbanks, 
president of the First National Bank of Mansfield, 111.; 



310 BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

Newton H., connected with the Springfield Foundry Company, 
and Luther M., a capitalist and real estate dealer in Mansfield, 
111. It is noticeable that all the men of the Fairbanks stock 
are well-to-do. 

UNPRETENTIOUS HOME LIFE 

It is a quiet life and modest one which the Fairbanks 
family leads in Indianapolis. Their two-story frame dwelling 
is an unpretentious structure, though pretty and comfortable, 
and as to the Senator's office in one of the ancient buildings 
here, it is not only unpretentious, but shabby. Besides a few 
careless scratches on the glass with some blunt steel 
instrument, the only sign upon the door is a simple and 
crudely painted "C. W. Fairbanks" in black letters about 
three inches high. 

DINGY OFFICES 

There are two rooms with uncarpeted floors, and the 
hallway approaching them leads to an elevator unmodern and 
slow-moving. It is not one of the places where you would 
look for the office of a United States Senator, and is not one- 
tenth as imposing nor one-fiftieth as comfortable as Mrs. 
Fairbanks' suite in the Washington Loan and Trust building 
in the Capital City, where she has more assistants than her 
husband needs in his law business, and where she handles the 
weighty affairs of the Daughters of the American 
Revolution. 

When the Senator came to Indianapolis in 1874, the late 
Judge Walter Q. Gresham was on the Supreme Court bench. 
He was a sincere and useful friend of Senator Fairbanks, 
and in his position on the bench was able to throw a great 
deal of profitable business in the young man's way. 



BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES VV. FAIRBANKS 311 
POLITICAL OABGER BEGINS 

Later, when Judge Gresham's name went before the 
Republican convention in 1888, for the presidential nomination, 
Senator Fairbanks managed his candidacy. He came back to 
Indianapolis after the convention, after losing the Gresham 
fight, and went to work for the Republican candidate, 
Benjamin Harrison. Judge Gresham later became a Democrat, 
but Senator Fairbanks and he remained strong personal 
friends. 

The judge and the Senator were both willing to concede 
the honest}' of another man's views in regard to the tariff. 
The Senator had inherited from his father, whose Ohio sugar 
plantation was one of the stations in the underground 
railroad by which escaped slaves found their way to Canada, 
strong Republican prejudices, and his view of the tariff gave 
him equally strong Republican convictions. Having a taste 
for political life and for no other reason than the gratification 
of that taste, the Senator made political speeches. After he 
had attained independent means, not only his speeches but his 
campaign contributions were appreciated. He was once 
candidate for the Republican caucus nomination for Senator 
when the Legislature was Democratic. It had been suggested 
that he accept nomination for the Ohio Legislature before he 
left that State, yet he had never shown any ambition to hold 
a place of public trust or to have his name put on an election 
ballot. He is one of the few men who have stepped into the 
Senate from private life. 

The foregoing are some of the striking facts about the 
Senator's career. More striking are the facts relating to his 
personality. His unusual height has been discussed in every 
town and hamlet where newspapers are read. His ready smile 



312 BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

is almost as famous. His suave manner and remarkable self- 
possession were matters of comment during the three days of 
the recent Republican convention. 

But these are the externals. It maybe stated that Senator 
Fairbanks' heart is in the right place, and fashioned accord- 
ing to approved style. But you cannot be sure of this after a 
first interview. You must know the Senator, or at least must 
have met him on a number of occasions. In the Senate he 
is popular, and that is a good recommendation for any man, 
however famous his personal attraction. 

DIGNITY OF THOUGHT AND ACTION 

What stands out all over Senator Fairbanks, so to speak, 
is his dignity. He is dignified not only in his courteous 
manner, but in his habit of thought. 

The Republican politicians who endeavored to smoke him 
out at the Chicago convention made the discovery that 
Senator Fairbanks was under all conditions absolutely 
imperturbable. He is never afraid to meet any man and be 
questioned on any subject, though it is a fact that few men 
have more secrets than Senator Fairbanks. His closest 
friends often claim to know no more about the Senator's views 
than is known to the general public, and probably their claim 
is correct. 

The Senator's forbears fought under Cromwell, came to 
New England with the original Puritans, helped found the 
town of Dedham, Massachusetts, and did not leave New 
England till the generation of the father of the present 
Senator, who emigrated to Ohio with the intention of engag- 
ing in his trade of wagon making, with a farming business on 
the side. The Senator's mother was of a family which 
emigrated to Ohio from New York, and was related to th.e 



BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAH^BANKS 313 

Smiths, of whose influence upon Senator Fairbanks this sketch 
has treated. 

BURNS DOWN THE HOUSE 

Many statesmen, Hke Fairbanks, began their Hves in log 
cabins, but few of them enjoy the distinction of having set 
fire to their log cabins at the tender age of four. This 
Senator Fairbanks did, with no more serious result than the 
destruction of the rude domicile on his father's farm in 
Union County. He ignited some shavings and the wind and 
the law of combustion did the rest. 

After receiving what learning he could from the country 
schools, Senator Fairbanks was sent to Ohio VVesleyan 
College. His parents were able to do this, for they had been 
thrifty, as had all the Fairbanks for generations. But he 
prepared many of his meals himself, being compelled by 
economy to forego the luxury of a cook. 

Among the boys at college Fairbanks was considered a 
very serious fellow, and like all young men who take life 
seriously he was the butt of many college pranks. He was 
not a brilliant student, but was thorough, earnest and 
moderately successful in his class work. His strong will, 
inherited from Puritan ancestors, kept him seriously at his 
tasks, and helped to make him the idol of the particular 
co-ed for whose good opinion alone he might have 
struggled. 

ORGANIZED INDIANA FOR McKINLEY 

The first really significant work which Senator Fairbanks 
did in politics was in 1S96, or rather shortly before the 
convention of that year, when he allied himself with his 
friend William McKinley, and organized Indiana for his 



314 BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 

nomination. As temporary chairman of tlie St. Louis 
convention he made the keynote speech of the campaign, 
declaring that the party was unequivocally against the free 
coinage of silver. He was a prominent figure in the con- 
vention and had much to do with the determination of the 
party policies upon which the McKinley campaign was 
fought. "Sound money and protection" were largely the 
result of Senator Fairbanks' labors. 

There were at that time two Democratic senators from 
Indiana, and a Democrat was the chief executive of the 
State. Mr. Fairbanks was the leader of the Republicans and 
came back from St. Louis with a political prestige which 
assisted him in securing the favor of his party for the 
senatorship. It was on the wave of Republicanism which 
that year tore the State out of the Democratic column that 
Senator Fairbanks was carried into the Senate. 

THE MARTYRED PRESIDENT'S FRIEND 

As the friend of William McKinley, Mr. Fairbanks was a 
big man in the Senate. The Republicans being restored to 
power, and important measures pending, he took a prominent 
part in the tariff and currency legislation. One of his widely 
circulated speeches was on the subject of immigration, in 
which he took great interest as chairman of the Immigration 
Committee. In the days and months just preceding the 
Spanish War nearly every twenty-four hours saw him at the 
White House in consultation with President McKinley. 

WISE AT A CRITICAL TIME 

It would be hard to give Senator Fairbanks too much 
credit for the part he took in the deliberations of the party 
leaders and of the Senate in that critical period. He was 



BIOGRAPHY OF HON. CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS 315 

calmly alert, and gave conservative and wise advice to a 
conservative and wise President. He counseled McKinley 
not to rush unprepared into a conflict, which, perhaps, might 
be avoided and all the ends accomplished without bloodshed. 

After introducing in the Senate a resolution requesting the 
President to tender his good offices toward the securing of a 
cessation of hostilities in Cuba, and laboring toward that end 
until there was no longer hope of peace, the Indianian 
advocated vigorous prosecution of war. 

It was through the initiative of Senator Fairbanks that the 
United States extended a helping hand to the stricken people 
of Martinique at the time that St. Pierre was destroyed in 
May of IQ02. For this he was thanked by the French 
Governor. Mr. McKinley made him one of the commissioners 
on the United States and British Joint High Commission, 
which settled various matters of dispute, such as the pro- 
posed abrogation of the Rush-Bagot treaty of 181 7. 



CHAPTER XXII 

LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 

LETTER ON RACE SUICIDE 

White House, Washington, October i8, IQ02. 

My Dear Mrs. Van Vorst: 1 must write 3'ou a line to say 
how much I have appreciated your article, The Woman who 
Toils. But to me there is a most melancholy side to it, when 
you touch upon what is fundamentally infinitely more 
important than any other question in this country — that is, 
the question of race suicide, complete or partial. 

An easy, good-natured kindliness, and a desire to be 
"independent," — that is, to live one's life purely according to 
one's desires — are in no sense substitutes for the fundamental 
virtues, for the practice of the strong racial qualities without 
which there can be no strong races — the qualities of courage 
and resolution in both men and women, of scorn of what is 
mean, base, and selfish, of eager desire to work or fight or 
suffer as the case may be, provided the end to be gained is 
great enough, and the contemptuous putting aside of mere 
ease, mere vapid pleasure, mere avoidance of toil and worry. 
I do not know whether I most pity or despise the foolish and 
selfish man or woman who does not understand that the only 
things really worth having in life are those the acquirement 
of which normally means cost and effort. If a man or woman, 
through no fault of his or hers, goes throughout life denied 
those highest of all joys which spring only from home life, 

from the having and bringing up of many healthy children, I 

316 



LETTERS OF TRESIUENT ROOSEVELT 317 

feel for them deep and respectful sympathy — the sympathy 
one extends to the gallant fellow killed at the beginning of a 
campaign, or to the man who toils hard and is brought to 
ruin by the fault of others. But the man or woman who 
deliberately avoids marriage and has a heart so cold as to 
know no passion and a brain so shallow and selfish as to 
dislike having children, is in effect a criminal against the 
race and should be an object of contemptuous abhorrence by 
all healthy people. 

Of course no one quality makes a good citizen, and no one 
quality will save a nation. But there are certain great 
qualities for the lack of which no amount of intellectual 
brilliancy or of material prosperity or of easiness of life can 
atone, and the lack of which shows decadence and corruption 
in the nation, just as much if they are produced by selfishness 
and coldness and ease-loving laziness among comparatively 
poor people as if they are produced by vicious or frivolous 
luxury in the rich. If the men of the nation are not anxious 
to work in many different ways, with all their might and 
strength, and ready and able to fight at need, and anxious to 
be fathers of families, and if the women do not recognize that 
the greatest thing for any woman is to be a good wife and 
mother, why, that nation has cause to be alarmed about its 
future. 

There is no physical trouble among us Americans. The 
trouble with the situation you set forth is one of character, 
and therefore we can conquer it if we only will. 

Very sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt, 

Mrs. Bessie Van Vorst, 

Philadelphia, Pa. 
(Personal) 



3i8 LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 

LETTERXREGARDING DR. DRUM'S APPOINTMENT 

White House, November 26, 1902. 
My Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of November 

loth and of one from Mr. under date of November nth, 

in reference to the appointment of Dr. Crum as Collector of 
the Port of Charleston. In your letter you make certain 
specific charges against Dr. Crum, tending to show his 
unfitness in several respects for the office sought. These 
charges are entitled to the utmost consideration from me, 
and I shall go over them carefully before taking any action. 
After making these charges you add, as a further reason for 
opposition to him, that he is a colored man, and after reciting 
the misdeeds that followed carpet-bag rule and negro 
domination in South Carolina, you say that "we have sworn 
never again to submit to the rule of the African, and such an 
appointment as that of Dr. Crum to any such office forces us 
to protest unanimously against this insult to the white blood"; 
and you add that you understood me to say that I would never 

force a negro on such a community as yours. Mr. puts 

the objection of color first, saying: "First, he is a colored 
man, and that of itself ought to bar him from the office." In 
view of these last statements, I think 1 ought to make clear to 
you why I am concerned and pained by your making them 
and what my attitude is as regards all such appointments. 
How any could have gained the idea that I had said I would 
not appoint reputable colored men to office, when objection 
was made to them solely on account of their color, I confess I 
am wholly unable to understand. At the time of my visit to 
Charleston last spring I had made, and since that time I have 
made, a number of appointments from several States in which 
there is a considerable colored population. For example, I 



LK ITERS OF FRKSIUKNT ROOSEVELT 319 

made one such appointment in Mississippi and another in 
' Alabama, shortly before my visit to Charleston. I had at that 
time appointed two colored men as judicial magistrates in the 
District of Columbia. I have recently announced another 
such appointment for New Orleans, and have just made one 
from Pennsylvania. The great majority of my appointments 
in every State have been of white men. North and South 
alike it has been my sedulous endeavor to appoint only men 
of high character and good capacity, whether white or black. 
But it has been my consistent policy in every State where 
their numbers warranted it to recognize colored men of good 
repute and standing in making appointments to ofifice. These 
appointments of colored men have in no State made more 
than a small proportion of the total number of appointments. 
I am unable to see how I can legitimately be asked to make 
an exception for South Carolina. In South Carolina, to the 
four most important positions in the State I have appointed 
three men and continued in office a fourth, all of them white 
men — three of them originally gold Democrats — two of them, 
as I am informed, the sons of Confederate soldiers. I have 
been informed by the citizens of Charleston whom I have 
met that these four men represent a high grade of public 
service. 

I do not intend to appoint any unfit men to office. So far 
as I legitimately can I shall always endeavor to pay regard to 
the wishes and feelings of the people of each locality; but I 
cannot consent to take the position that the door of hope — the 
door of opportunity— is to be shut upon any man, no matter 
how worthy, purely upon the grounds of race or color. Such 
an attitude would, according to my convictions, be fundamen- 
tally wrong. If, as you hold, the great bulk of the colored 



320 LETTERS OF PRESlDEiXT ROOSEVELT 

people are not yet fit in point of character and influe^ic-e to 
hold such positions, it seems to me that it is worth while 
putting a premium upon the effort among them to achieve the 
character and standing which will fit them. 

The question of "negro domination" does not enter into the 
matter at all. It might as well be asserted that when I was 
Governor of New York, I sought to bring about negro 
domination in that State because I appointed two colored 
men of good character and standing to responsible positions — 
one of them to a position paying a salary twice as large as 
that paid in the office now under consideration — -one of them 
as a director of the Buffalo Exposition. The question raised 

by you and Mr. in the statements to which I refer, is 

simply whether it is to be declared that under no circumstances 
shall any man of color, no matter how upright and honest, no 
matter how good a citizen, no matter how fair in his dealings 
with his fellows, be permitted to hold any office under our 
government. I certainly cannot assume such an attitude, and 
you must permit me to say that in my view it is an attitude no 
man should assume, whether he looks at it from the standpoint 
of the true interest of the white men of the South or of the 
colored men of the South, not to speak of any other section 
of the Union. It seems to me that it is a good thing from 
every standpoint to let the colored man know that if he 
shows in marked degree the qualities of good citizenship 
— the qualities which in a white man we feel are entitled to 
reward— then he will not be cut off from all hope of similar 
reward. 

Without any regard to what my decision may be on the 
merits of this particular applicant for this particular place, I 
feel that I ought to let you know clearly my attitude on the 




tOKSTiLrUS BLiISS 

NEW YORK 




rvEnFIELD PROCTOR 
\i;rmont 



LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 321 

far broader question raised by you and Mr. ; an attitude 

from which I have not varied during my term of office. 

Faithfully yours, 

Theodore Roosevelt, 
Hon. , 

Charleston, S. C. 

FEDERAL APPOINTMENTS IN THE SOUTH 

White House, Washington, February 24, 1Q03. 

My Dear Mr. Howell: I have a high opinion of the 
gentleman you mention, and if the opportunity occurs I shall 
be glad to do anything for him. 

Now as to what you say concerning Federal appointments 
in the South. Frankly, it seems to me that my appointments 
speak for themselves and that my policy is self-e.xplanatory. 
So far from feeling that they need the slightest apology or 
justification, my position is that on the strength of what 1 have 
done I have the right to claim the support of all good citizens 
who wish not only a high standard of Federal service, but 
fair and equitable dealing to the South as well as to the 
North, and a policy of consistent justice and good-will toward 
all men. In making appointments I have sought to consider 
the feelings of the people of each locality so far as I could 
consistently do so without sacrificing principle. The prime 
tests I have applied have been those of character, fitness and 
ability, and when I have been dissatisfied with what has been 
offered within my own party lines I have without hesitation 
gone to the opposite party — and you are of course aware that 
I have repeatedly done this in your own State of Georgia. I 
certainly cannot treat mere color as a permanent bar to 
holding office, any more than I could so treat creed or birth- 
place — always provided that in other respects the applicant or 



322 LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 

incumbent is a worthy and well-behaved American citizen. 
Just as little will I treat it as conferring a right to hold office. 
I have scant sympathy with the mere doctrinaire, with the man 
of mere theory who refuses to face facts; but do you not 
think that in the long run it is safer for everybody if we act 
on the motto "All men up," rather than that of "Some men 
down"? 

I ask you to judge not by what I say but by what during 
the last seventeen months I have actually done. In your own 
State of Georgia you are competent to judge from your own 
experience. In the great bulk of cases I have reappointed 
President McKinley's appointees. The changes I have made, 
such as that in the postmastership at Athens and in the 
surveyorship at Atlanta, were, as I think you will agree, 
changes for the better and not for the worse. It happens 
that in each of these offices I have appointed a white man to 
succeed a colored man. In South Carolina I have similarly 
appointed a white postmaster to succeed a colored postmaster. 
Again, in South Carolina I have nominated a colored man to 
fill a vacancy in the position of collector of the port of 
Charleston, just as in Georgia I have reappointed the colored 
man who is now serving as collector of the port of Savannah, 
Both are fit men. Why the appointment of one should cause 
any more excitement than the appointment of the other, I am 
wholly at a loss to imagine. As I am writing to a man of 
keen and trained intelligence I need hardly say that to 
connect either of these appointments, or any or all my other 
appointments, or my actions in upholding the law at Indianola 
with such questions as "social equality" and "negro domination" 
is as absurd as to connect them with the nebular hypothesis 
or the theory of atoms. 



LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 323 

I have consulted freely with your own senators and 
congressmen as to the character and capacity of any appointee 
in Georgia concerning whom there was question. My party 
advisers in the State have been Major Hanson of Macon, Mr. 
Walter Johnson of Atlanta— both of them ex-Confederate 
soldiers — and Mr. Harry Stillwell Edwards, also of Macon. I 
believe you will agree with me that in no State would it be 
possible to find gentlemen abler and more upright or better 
qualified to fill the positions they have filled with reference to 
me. In every instance where these gentlemen have united in 
making a recommendation I have been able to follow their 
advice. Am I not right in saying that the Federal office- 
holders whom I have appointed throughout your State are, 
as a body, men and women of a high order of efficiency and 
integrity? If you know of any Federal office-holder in 
Georgia of whom this is not true, pray let me know it at once. 
I will welcome testimony from you or from any other repu- 
table citizen which will tend to show that a given public officer 
is unworthy; and, most emphatically, short will be the shrift 
of any one else whose lack of worth is proven. Incidentally 
I may mention that a large percentage of the incumbents of 
Federal offices in Georgia under me are, as I understand it, 
of your own political faith. But they are supported by me in 
every way as long as they continue to render good and faithful 
service to the public. 

This is true of your own State; and by applying to Mr. 
Thomas Nelson Page of Virginia, to General Basil Duke of 
Kentucky, to Mr. George Crawford of Tennessee, to Mr. 
John Mcllhenny of Louisiana, to Judge Jones of Alabama, 
and to Mr. Edgar L. Wilson of Mississippi, all of them 
Democrats and all of them men of the highest standing in 



324 LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 

their respective communities, you will find that what I have 
done in Georgia stands not as the exception but as the rule 
for what I have done throughout the South. I have good 
reason to believe that my appointees in the different States 
mentioned — and as the sum of the parts is the whole, 
necessarily in the South at large — represent not merely an 
improvement upon those whose places they took, but, upon 
the whole, a higher standard of Federal service than has 
hitherto been attained in the communities in question. I may 
add that the proportion of colored men among these new 
appointees is only about one in a hundred. In view of all 
these facts I have been surprised, and somewhat pained, at 
what seems to me the incomprehensible outcry in the South 
about my actions — an outcry apparently started in New York 
for reasons wholly unconnected with the question nominally 
at issue. I am concerned at the attitude thus taken by so 
many of the Southern people; but I am not in the least angry; 
and still less will this attitude have the effect of making me 
swerve one hair's breadth, to one side or the other, from the 
course I have marked out — the course I have conscientiously 
followed in the past and shall consistently follow in the 
future. With regard, 

Sincerely yours, 
Theodore Roosevelt. 
Hon. Clark Howell, 

Editor, The Constitution, Atlanta, Ga. 

LABOR UNIONS AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE 

On May i8, 1903, William A. Miller was removed by the 
Public Printer from his position of assistant foreman at the 
Government printing office. Mr. Miller filed a complaint 



LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 325 

with the Civil Service Commission, alleging that his removal 
had been in violation of the civil service law and rules. After 
an investigation of the complaint and upon July 6th, the Civil 
Service Commission advised the Public Printer of its decision 
as follows: 

Section 2 of Civil Service Rule XII, governing removals, provides that no per- 
son shall be removed from a competitive position except for such cause as will pro- 
mote the efficiency of the public service. The commission does not consider 
expulsion from a labor union, being the action of a body in no way connected with 
the public service nor having authority over public employees, to be such a cause 
as will promote the efficiency of the public service. 

As the only reason given by you for your removal of Mr. Miller is that he was 
expelled from Local Union No. 4, International Brotherhood of Bookbinders, you are 
advised that the commission cannot recognize his removal and must request that he 
be reassigned to duty in his position. 

Mr. Miller's complaint had also been filed with the President, 
under whose direction it was being investigated by the 
Secretary of Commerce and Labor simultaneously with the 
investigation by the Civil Service Commission. As a result 
of such investigations, the following letters, under dates of 
July 13 and 14, 1Q03, were written by the President: 

REINSTATEMENT OF MR. MILLER 

Oyster Bay, N. Y., July 13, 1903. 

My Dear Secretary Cortelyou: In accordance with the 
letter of the Civil Service Commission of July 6th, the Public 
Printer will reinstate Mr. W. A. Miller in his position. 
Meanwhile I will withhold m}' final decision of the whole case 
until I have received the report of the investigation on 
Miller's second communication, which you notify me has 
been begun to-day, July 13th. 

On the face of the papers presented, Miller would appear 



326 LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 

to have been removed in violation of law. There is no 
objection to the employees of the Government Printing 
Office constituting themselves into a union if they so desire; 
but no rules or resolutions of that union can be permitted to 
override the laws of the United States, which it is my sworn 
duty to enforce. 

Please communicate a copy of this letter to the Public 
Printer for his information and that of his subordinates. 

Very truly yours, 
Theodore Roosevelt. 
Hon. George B. Cortelyou, 

Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 

AWARD AND JUDGMENT OF COAL COMMISSION 

Oyster Bay, N. Y., July 14, 1903. 
My Dear Mr. Cortelyou: In connection with my letter of 
yesterday I call attention to this judgment and award by the 
Anthracite Coal Strike Commission in its report to me of 
March 8th last: 

It is adjudged and awarded that no person shall be refused emplojmient or in 
any way discriminated against on account of membership or non -membership in any 
labor organization, and there shall be no discrimination against or interference with 
any employee who is not a member of any labor organization by members of such 
organization. 

I heartily approve of this award and judgment by the 
Commission appointed by me, which itself included a member 
of a labor union. This commission was dealing with labor 
organizations working for private employers. It is of course 
mere elementary decency to require that all the Government 
departments shall be handled in accordance with the 
principles thus clearly and fearlessly enunciated. 



LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 327 

Please furnish a copy of this letter both to Mr. Palmer 
and to the Civil Service Commission for their guidance. 

Sincerely yours, 
Theodore Roosevelt. 
Hon. Geo. B. Cortelyou, 

Secretary of Commerce and Labor. 

STATEMENT TO AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR 

September 29, IQ03. 

Pursuant to the request of Samuel Gompers, President of 
the American Federation of Labor, the President granted an 
interview this evening to the following members of the 
Executive Council of that body: Mr. Samuel Gompers, Mr. 
James Duncan, Mr. John Mitchell, Mr. James O'Connell, and 
Mr. Frank Morrison, at which various subjects of legislation 
in the interest of labor, as well as executive action, were 
discussed. Concerning the case of William A. Miller the 
President made the following statement: 

"I thank you and your committee for your courtesy, and I 
appreciate the opportunity to meet with you. It will always 
be a pleasure to see you or any representatives of your 
organizations or of your Federation as a whole. 

"As regards the Miller case, I have little to add to what I 
have already said. In dealing with it I ask you to remember 
that I am dealing purely with the relation of the Govern- 
ment to its employees. I must govern my action by the laws 
of the land, which I am sworn to administer, and which 
differentiate any case in which the Government of the United 
States is a party from all other cases whatsoever. These 
laws are enacted for the benefit of the whole people, and 
cannot and must not be construed as permitting discrimination 



328 LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 

against some of the people. I am President of all the people 
of the United States, without regard to creed, color, birth- 
place, occupation, or social condition. My aim is to do 
equal and exact justice as among them all. In the employ- 
ment and dismissal of men in the Government service I can 
no more recognize the fact that a man does or does not 
belong to a union as being for or against him than I can 
recognize the fact that he is a Protestant or a Catholic, a Jew 
or a Gentile, as being for or against him. 

"In the communications sent me by various labor organ- 
izations protesting against the retention of Miller in the 
Government Printing Office, the grounds alleged are twofold: 
I, that he is a non-union man; 2, that he is not personally fit. 
The question of his personal fitness is the one to be settled in 
the routine of administrative detail, and cannot be allowed to 
conflict with or complicate the larger question of govern- 
mental discrimination for or against him or any other man 
because he is not a member of a union. This is the only 
question now before me for decision; and as to this my 
decision is final." 

LETTER ON THE SUBJECT OF LYNCH LAW 

Oyster Bay, N. Y., August 6, 1903. 
My Dear Governor Durbin: Permit me to thank you as an 
American citizen for the admirable way in which you have 
vindicated the majesty of the law by your recent action in 
reference to lynching. I feel, my dear sir, that you have made 
all men your debtors who believe, as all far-seeing men must, 
that the well-being, indeed the very existence, of the Republic 
depends upon that spirit of orderly liberty under the law 
which is incompatible with mob violence as with any form of 
despotism. Of course mob violence is simply one form of 



LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 329 

anarchy; and anarchy is now, as it always has been, the hand- 
maiden and forerunner of tyranny. 

I feel that you have not only reflected honor upon the State 
which for its good fortune has you as its Chief Executive, 
but upon the whole nation. It is incumbent upon every man 
throughout this country not only to hold up your hands in the 
course you have been following, but to show his realization 
that the matter is one which is of vital concern to us all. 

All thoughtful men must feel the gravest alarm over the 
growth of lynching in this country, and especially over the 
peculiarly hideous forms so often taken by mob violence 
when colored men are the victims — on which occasions the 
mob seems to lay most weight, not on the crime, but on the 
color of the criminal. In a certain proportion of these cases 
the man lynched has been guilty of a crime horrible beyond 
description; a crime so horrible that as far as he himself is 
concerned he has forfeited the right to any kind of sympathy 
whatsoever. The feeling of all good citizens that such a 
hideous crime shall not be hideously punished by mob 
violence is due not in the least to sympathy for the criminal, 
but to a very lively sense of the train of dreadful con- 
sequences which follows the course taken by the mob in 
exacting inhuman vengeance for an inhuman wrong. In such 
cases, moreover, it is well to remember that the criminal not 
merely sins against humanity in inexpiable and unpardonable 
fashion, but sins particularly against his own race, and does 
them a wrong far greater than any white man can possibly 
do them. Therefore, in such cases the colored people 
throughout the land should in every possible way show their 
belief that they, more than all others in the country, are 
horrified at the commission of such a crime and are peculiarly 



330 LETTERS OF PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT 

concerned in taking every possible measure to prevent its 
recurrence and to bring the criminal to immediate justice. 
The slightest lack of vigor either in denunciation of the 
crime or in bringing the criminal to justice is itself 
unpardonable. 

Moreover, every effort should be made under the law to 
expedite the proceedings of justice in the case of such an awful 
crime. But it cannot be necessary in order to accomplish 
this to deprive any citizen of those fundamental rights to be 
heard in his own defense which are so dear to us all and 
which lie at the root of our liberty. It certainly ought to be 
possible by the proper administration of the laws to secure 
swift vengeance upon the criminal; and the best and 
immediate efforts of all legislators, judges and citizens should 
be addressed to securing such reforms in our legal procedure 
as to leave no vestige of e.xcuse for those misguided men who 
undertake to reap vengeance through violent methods. 

Men who have been guilty of a crime like rape or murder 
should be visited with swift and certain punishment, and the 
just effort made by the courts to protect them in their rights 
should under no circumstances be perverted into permitting 
any mere technicality to avert or delay their punishment. 
The substantial rights of the prisoner to a fair trial must of 
course be guaranteed, as you have so justly insisted that they 
should be; but, subject to this guarantee, the law must work 
swiftly and surely and all the agents of the law should realize 
the wrong they do when they permit justice to be delayed or 
thwarted for technical or insufficient reasons. We must show 
that the law is adequate to deal with crime by freeing it from 
every vestige of technicality and delay. . . . 

Very sincerely yours, Theodore Roosevelt. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

President Roosevelt's Speech of Acceptance 

Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the Notification Committee. I am deeply 
sensible of the high honor conferred upon me by the representatives of the Repub- 
lican party assembled in convention, and I accept the nomination for the presidency 
with solemn realization of the obligations I assume, I heartily approve the declara- 
tion of principles which the Republican national convention has adopted, and at 
some future day I shall communicate to you, Mr. Chairman, more at length and in 
detail a formal written acceptance of the nomination. 

Three years ago I became president because of the death of my lamented prede- 
cessor. I then stated that it was my purpose to carrv' out his principles and policies 
for the honor and interest of the country. To the best of my ability I have kept the 
promise thus made. If next November my countrymen confirm at the polls the 
action of the convention you represent, I shall, under Providence, continue to work 
with an eye single to the welfare of all our people. 

LAUDS RECORD OF PARTY 

A party is of worth only in so far as it promotes the national interest, and every 
official, high or low, can serve his party best by rendering to the people the best 
service of which he is capable. Effective government comes only as the result of 
the loyal cooperation of many different persons. The members of a legislative 
majority, the officers in the various departments of the administration, and the 
legislative and executive branches as toward each other, must work together with 
subordination of self to the common end of successful government. We who have 
been entrusted with power as public servants during the past seven years of adminis- 
tration and legislation now come before the people content to be judged by our rec- 
ord of achievement. In the years that have gone by we have made the deed 
square with the word; and if we are continued in power we shall unswervingly fol- 
low out the great lines of public policy which the Republican party has already laid 
down; a public policy to which we are giving, and shall give, a united, and there- 
fore an efficient, support. 

In all of this we are more fortunate than our opponents, who now appeal for 

■331 



332 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

confidence on the ground, which some express and some seek to have confidentially 
understood, that if triumphant they may be trusted to prove false to every principle 
which in the last eight years they have laid down as vital, and to leave undisturbed 
those very acts of the administration because of which they ask that the administra- 
tion itself be driven from power. Seemingly their present attitude as to their past 
record is that some of them were mistaken and others insincere. We make our 
appeal in a wholly difi'erent spirit. We are not constrained to keep silent on any 
vital question; we are divided on no vital question; our policy is continuous, and is 
the same for all sections and localities. There is nothing experimental about the 
government we ask the people to continue in power, for our performance in the past, 
our proved governmental efficiency, is a guarantee as to our promises for the future. 
Our opponents, either openly or secretly, according to their .several temperaments, 
now ask the people to trust their present promises in consideration of the fact that 
they intend to treat their past promises as null and void. We know our own minds 
and we have kept of the same mind for a sufficient length of time to give to our 
policy coiierence and sanity. 

POINTS TO TRUST OASES 

In such a fundamental matter as the enforcement of the law we do not have to 
depend upon promises, but merely to ask that our record be taken as an earnest of 
what we shall continue to do. In dealing with the great organizations known as 
trusts we do not have to explain why the laws were not enforced, but to point out 
that they actually have been enforced and that legislation has been enacted to 
increase the effectiveness of their enforcement. We do not have to propose to 
"turn the rascals out," for we have .shown in very deed that whenever by diligent 
investigation a public official can be found who has betrayed his trust he will be 
punished to the full extent of the law without regard to whether he was appointed 
under a Republican or a Democratic administration. This is the efficient way to 
turn the rascals out and to keep them out, and it has the merit of sincerity. More- 
over, the betrayals of trust in the last seven years have been insignificant in number 
when compared with the extent of the public service. Never has the administration 
of the government been on a cleaner and higher level; never has the public work of 
the nation been done more honestly and efficiently. 

Assuredly it is unwise to change the policies which have worked so well and 
which are now working so well. Prosperity has come at home. The national honor 
and interest have been upheld abroad. We have placed the finances of the nation 
upon a .sound gold basis. We have done this with the aid of many who were formerly 
our opponents, but who would neither openly support nor silently acquiesce in the 
heresy of unsound finance; and we have done it against the convinced and violent 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 333 

opposition of the mass of our present opponents, who still refuse to recant the 
unsound opinions which for the moment they think it inexpedient to assert. We 
know what we mean when we speak of an honest and stable currency. We mean 
the same thing from year to year. We do not have to avoid a definite and conclusive 
committal on the most important issue which has recently been before the people, 
and which may at any time in the near future be before them again. Upon the 
principles which underlie this issue the convictions of half our number do not clash 
with those of the other half. So long as the Republican party is in power the gold 
standard is settled, not as a matter of temporary political expediency, not because of 
shifting conditions in the production of gold in certain mining centers, but in accord- 
ance with what we regard as the fundamental principles of national morality and 
wisdom. 

CIRCULATION AMPLE 

Under the financial legislation which we have enacted there is now ample circu- 
lation for every business need; and every dollar of this circulation is worth a dollar 
in gold. We have reduced the interest-bearing debt and in still larger measure the 
interest on that debt. All of the war taxes imposed during the Spanish War 
have been removed, with a view to relieve the people and to prevent the accu- 
mulation of an unnecessary' surplus. The result is that hardly ever before have 
the expenditures and income of the government so closely corresponded. In the 
fiscal year that has just closed the excess of income over the ordinary expenditures 
was nine millions of dollars. This does not take account of the fifty millions 
expended out of the accumulated surplus for the purchase of the Isthmian Canal. 
It is an extraordinary proof of the sound financial condition of the nation that 
instead of following the usual course in such matters and throwing the burden 
upon posterity by an issue of bonds, we were able to make the payment outright 
and yet after it to have in the treasury a surplus of one hundred and sixty-one mil- 
lions. Moreover, we were able to pay this fifty millions of dollars out of hand with- 
out causing the slightest disturbance to business conditions. 

We have enacted a tariff law under which during the past few years the country 
has attained a height of material well-being never before reached. Wages are higher 
than ever before. That whenever the need arises there should be a readjustment of 
the tariff schedules is undoubted ; but such changes can with safety be made only 
by those whose devotion to the principle of a protective tariff is beyond question ; for 
otherwise the changes would amount not to readjustment but to repeal. The read- 
justment when made must maintain and not destroy the protective principle. To 
the farmer, the merchant, the manufacturer this is vital ; but perhaps no other man 
is so much interested as the wage-worker in the maintenance of our present ecu- 
nomic system, both as regards the finances and the tarifif. The standard of living of 



334 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

our wage-workers is higher than that of any other country, and it cannot so remain 
unless we have a protective tariff which shall always keep as a minimum a rate of 
duty sufficient to cover the difference between the labor cost here and abroad. 

UPHOLDS PRESENT TARIFF 

Those who, like our opponents, "denounce protection as a robbery" thereby 
explicitly commit themselves to the proposition that if they were to revise the tariff 
no heed would be paid to the necessity of meeting this difference between the stand- 
ards of living for wage-workers here and in other countries ; and therefore on this 
point their antagonism to our position is fundamental. Here again we ask that their 
promises and ours be judged by what has been done in the immediate past. We ask 
that sober and sensible men compare the workings of the present tariff law and the 
conditions which obtain under it, with the workings of the preceding tariff law of 
i8g4 and the conditions which that tariff of 1894 helped to bring about. 

We believe in reciprocity with foreign nations on the terms outlined in President 
McKinley's last speech, which urged the extension of our foreign markets by recip- 
rocal agreement whenever they could be made without injury to American industry 
and labor. It is a singular fact that the only great reciprocity treaty recently 
adopted — that with Cuba — was finally opposed almost alone by the representatives of 
the very party which now states that it favors reciprocity. And here again we ask 
that the worth of our words be judged by comparing their deeds with ours. On this 
Cuban reciprocity treaty there were at the outset grave differences of opinion among 
ourselves, and the notable thing in the negotiation and ratification of the treaty and 
in the legislation which carried it into effect was the highly practical manner in 
which without sacrifice of principle these differences of opinion were reconciled. 
There was no rupture of a great party, but an excellent practical outcome, the result 
of the harmonious cooperation of two successive presidents and two successive Con- 
gresses. This is an illustration of the governing capacity which entitles us to the 
confidence of the people, not only in our purposes but in our practical ability to 
achieve those purposes. Judging by the history of the last twelve years, down to 
this very month, is there justification for believing that under similar circumstances 
and with similar initial differences of opinion, our opponents would have achieved 
any practical results? 

JUSTICE TO ALL MEN 

We have already shown in actual fact that our policy is to do fair and equal jus- 
tice to all men, paying no heed to whether a man is rich or poor, paying no heed to 
his race, his creed or his birthplace. 

We recognize the organization of capital and the organization of labor as natural 
outcomes of our industrial system. Each kind of organization is to be favored so 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 335 

]ong as it acts in a spirit of justice and of regard for the rights of others. Each is to 
be granted the full protection of the law and each in turn is to be held to a strict obe- 
dience to the law, for no man is above il and no man below it. The humblest indi- 
vidual is to have his rights safeguarded as scrupulously as those of the strongest 
organization, for each is to receive justice, no more and no less. The problems with 
which we have to deal in our modem industrial and social life are manifold, but the 
spirit in which it is necessary to approach their solution is simply the spirit of hon- 
esty, of courage and of common sense. 

In inaugurating the great work of irrigation in the West the administration has 
been enabled by Congress to take one of the longest strides ever taken under our 
government toward utilizing our \-ast national domain for the settler, the actual 

home-maker. 

CANAL OBTAINED IN HONOR 

Ever since this continent was discovered the need of an isthmian canal to con- 
nect the Pacific and the Atlantic has been recognized ; and ever since the birth of 
our nation such a canal has been planned. At last the dream has become a reality. 
The isthmian canal is now being built by the government of the United States. We 
conducted the negotiations for its construction with the nicest and most scrupulous 
honor, and in a spirit of the largest generosity toward those through whose territory 
it was to run. Ever)- sinister effort which could be devised by the spirit of faction 
or the spirit of self-interest was made in order to defeat the treaty with Panama and 
thereby prevent the consummation of this work. The construction of the canal is 
now an assured fact; but most certainly it is unwise to intrust the carrying out of so 
momentous a policy to those who have endeavored to defeat the whole undertaking. 

Our foreign policy has been so conducted that, while not one of our just claims 
has been sacrificed, our relations with all foreign nations are now of the most peace- 
ful kind; there is not a cloud on the horizon. The last cause of irritation between 
us and any other nation was removed by the settlement of the Alaskan boundary. 

In the Caribbean Sea we have made good our promises of independence to Cuba 
and have proved our assertion that our mission in the island vi-as one of justice and 
not of self-aggrandizement, and thereby no less than by our action in Venezuela and 
Panama we have shown that the Monroe Doctrine is a living reality, designed for the 
hurt of no nation, but for the protection of civilization on the western continent and 
for the peace of the world. Our steady growth in power has gone hand in hand 
with a strengthening disposition to use this power with strict regard for the rights of 
others and for the cause of international justice and good will. 

We earnestly desire friendship with all the nations of the New and Old Worlds; 
and we endeavor to place our relations with them upon a basis of reciprocal advan 
tage instead of hostility. We hold that the prosperity of each nation is an aid and 



336 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

not a hindrance to the prosperity of other nations. We seek international amity for 
the same reasons that make us believe in peace within our own borders ; and we seek 
this peace not because we are afraid or unready, but because we think that peace is 
right as well as advantageous. 

American interests in the Pacific have rapidy grown. American enterprise has 
laid a cable across this, the greatest of oceans. We have proved in eflfective fashion 
that we wish the Chinese Empire well and desire its integrity and independence. 

Our foothold in the Philippines greatly strengthens our position in the competi- 
tion for the trade of the East ; but we are governing the Philippines in the interest of 
the PhiUppine people themselves. We have already given them a large share in 
their government, and our purpose is to increase this share as rapidly as they give 
evidence of increasing fitness for the task. The great majority of the officials of the 
islands, whether elective or appointive, are already native Filipinos. We are now 
providing for a legislative assembly. This is the first step to be taken in the future; 
and it would be eminently unwise to declare what our next step will be until this 
first step has been taken and the results are manifest. To have gone faster than we 
have already gone in giving the islanders a constantly increasing measure of self- 
government would have been disastrous. At the present moment, to give political 
independence to the islands would result in the immediate loss of civil rights, per- 
sonal liberty and public order, as regards the mass of the Filipinos, for the majority 
of the islanders have been given these great boons by us, and only keep them 
because we vigilantly safeguard and guarantee them. To withdraw our government 
from the islands at this time would mean to the average native the loss of his barely 
won civil freedom. We have established in the islands a government by Americans 
assisted by Filipinos. We are steadily striving to transform this into self-govern- 
ment by the Filipinos assisted by Americans. 

NO DUTY SHIRKED] 

The principles which we uphold should appeal to all our countrymen in all por- 
tions of our country. Above all they should give us strength with the men and 
women who are the spiritual heirs of those who upheld the hands of Abraham Lin- 
coln, for we are striving to do our work in the spirit with which Lincoln approached 
his. During the seven years that have just passed there is no duty, domestic or 
foreign, which we have shirked; no necessary task which we have feared to under- 
take, or which we have not performed with reasonable efficiency. We have never 
pleaded impotence. We have never sought refuge in criticism and complaint instead 
of action. We face the future with our past and our present as guarantors of our 
promises, and we are content to stand or fall by the record which we have made and 
are making. 




CIIAUXCEY MITCHELL DEPEAV 

UNITHL) STATES SENATOU FROM XEW YORK 




WILLIAM McKINLEY. 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 337 

ADDRESS TO THE BROTHERHOOD OF LOCOMOTIVE FIREMEN 

Chattanooga, Tenn., Septembers, 1902 

Mr. Grand Master, Governor McMillin, Mr. Mayor, my Brothers, Men and 
Women of Tennessee, my Fellow-Citizens: I am glad to be here to-day. I am glad 
to come as the guest of the Brotherhood. Let me join with you, the members of the 
Brotherhood of this country, in extending a most cordial welcome to our fellows 
from Canada and Mexico. The fact that we are good Americans only makes us all 
the better men, all the more desirous of seeing good fortune to all mankind. I 
needed no pressing to accept the invitation tendered through you, Mr. Hannahan, 
and through Mr. Arnold, to come to this meeting. I have always admired greatly 
the railroad men of the country, and I do not see how any one who believes in what 
I regard as the fundamental virtues of citizenship can fail to do so. I want to see 
the average American a good man, an honest man, and a man who can handle him- 
self, and does handle himself well under diflSculties. The last time I ever saw Gen- 
eral Sherman, I dined at his house, and we got to talking over the capacity of 
different types of soldiers, and the General happened to say that if there were 
ever another war, and he v.-ere to have a command, he should endeavor to get 
as many railway men as possible under him. I asked him why, and he said, 
"Because on account of their profession they have developed certain qualities 
which are essential in a soldier." In the first place they are accustomed to 
taking risks. There are a great many men who are naturally brave, but, who, 
are entirely unaccustomed to enduring hardship; they are accustomed to 
irregular hours ; they are accustomed to act on their own responsibility, on their 
own initiative, and yet they are accustomed to obeying orders quick. There is not 
anything more soul-harrowing for a man in time of war, or for a man engaged in a 
difficult job in time of peace, than to give an order and have the gentleman addressed 
say, "What?" The railroad man has to learn that when an order is issued there 
may be but a fraction of a second in which to obey it. He has to learn that orders 
are to be obeyed, and on the other hand, that there will come plenty of crises in which 
there will be no orders to be obeyed, and he will have to act for himself. 
THE REQUISITES OF A SOLDIER 

Those are all qualities that go to the very essence of good soldiership, and I am 
not .surprised at what General Sherman said. In raising my own regiment, which 
was raised mainly in the Southwest, partly in the Territory in which Mr. Sargent 
himself served as a soldier at one time — in Arizona — I got a number of railroad 
men. Of course, the first requisite was that a man should know how to shoot 
and how to ride. We were raising the regiment in a hurry, and we did not 
have time to teach him, either. He had to know how to handle a horse and how 



338 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

to handle a rifle, to start with. But given the possession of those two qualities, 
I found that there was no group of our citizens from whom better men could be 
drawn to a soldier's work in a tight place and at all times than the railroad men. 

But, gentlemen, the period of war is but a fractional part of the life of our repub- 
lic, and I earnestly hope and believe that it will be an even smaller part in the future 
than it has been in the past. It was the work that you have done in time of peace 
that especially attracted me to you, not for what I can tell you, but for the lesson it 
seems to me can be gained by all our people from what you have done. 

I BELIEVE IN ORGANIZED LABOR 

At the opening of the twentieth century we face conditions vastly changed from 
what they were in this country and throughout the world a century ago. Our complex 
industrial civilization, under which progress has been so rapid, and under which the 
changes for good have been so great, has also inevitably seen the growth of certain 
tendencies that are not for good, or at least that are not wholly for good ; and we in 
consequence, as a people, like the rest of civilized mankind, find set before us for 
solution during the coming century problems which need the best thought of all of 
us, and the most earnest desire of all to solve them well if we expect to work out a 
solution satisfactory to our people, a solution for the advantage of the nation. In 
facing these problems, it must be a comfort to every well-wisher of the nation to see 
what has been done by your organization. I believe emphatically in organized 
labor. ;^I believe in organizations of wage-workers. Organization is one of the laws 
of our social and economic development at this time. But I feel that we must 
always keep before our minds the fact that there is nothing sacred in the name itself. 
To call an organization an organization does not make it a good one. The worth of 
an organization depends upon its being handled with the courage, the skill, the 
wisdom, the spirit of fair dealing as between man and man, and the wise self- 
restraint which, I am glad to be able to say, your Brotherhood has shown. You 
now number close upon 44,000 members. During the two years ending June 30th 
last you paid in to the general and beneficiary funds close upon a million and a 
half dollars. More than six and one-half millions have been paid in since the 
starting of the insurance clause in the constitution — have been paid to disabled 
members and their beneficiaries. Over fifty per cent of the amount paid was paid 
on account of accidents. Gentlemen, that is a sufficient commentary upon the kind 
of profession which is yours. You face death and danger in time of peace, as in 
time of war the men wearing Uncle Sam's uniform must face them. 

Your work is hard. Do you suppose I mention that because I pity you? No; 
not a bit I don't pity any man who does hard work vporth doing. I admire him. 
I pity the creature who doesn't work, at whichever end of the social scale he may 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 339 

regard himself as being. The law of worthy work well doue is the law of successful 
American life. I believe in play, too — play, and play hard while you play; but 
don't make the mistake of thinking that that is the main thing. The work is what 
counts, and if a man does his work well and it is worth doing, then it matters 
but little in which line that work is done; the man is a good American citizen. 
If he does his work in slipshod fashion, then no matter what kind of work it is, 
he is a poor American citizen. 

I speak to the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, but what I say applies 
to all railroad men — not only to the engineers who have ser\-ed an apprentice- 
ship as firemen, to the conductors, who, as a rule, have served an apprenticeship 
as Israkemen, but to all the men of all the organizations connected with railroad 
work. I know you do not grudge my saying that, through you, I am talking to 
all the railroad men of the country. You, in your organization as railroad men, 
have taught two lessons: the lesson of how much can be accomplished by organi- 
zation, by mutual self-help of the type that helps another in the only way by 
which, in the long run, a man who is a full-grown man really can be helped — that is, 
by teaching him to help himself. You teach the benefits of organization, and you 
also teach the indispensable need of keeping absolutely unimpaired the faculty of 
individual initiative, the faculty by which each man brings himself to the highest 
point of perfection by exercising the special qualities with which he is himself 
endowed. The Brotherhood has developed to this enormous e.xtent since the days, 
now many years ago, when the first little band came together; and it has developed, 
not by crushing out individual initiative, but by developing it, by combining many 
individual initiatives. 

THE MAN WHO PULLS HIS OWN WEIGHT 

The Brotherhood of Firemen does much for all firemen, but I firmly believe that 
the individual fireman, since the growth of the Brotherhood, has been more, not less, 
efficient than he was twenty years ago. Membership in the Brotherhood comes, as 
I understand it, after a nine months' probationary period; after a man has shown 
his worth, he is then admitted and stands on his footing as a brother. Now, any 
man who enters with the purpose of letting the Brotherhood carry him is not worth 
much. The man who counts in the Brotherhood is the man who pulls his own 
weight and a little more. Much can be done by the Brotherhood. I have just 
hinted, in the general figures I gave you, at how much has been done, but it still 
remains true, in the Brotherhood and everywhere else throughout American life, that 
in the last resort nothing can supply the place of the man's own individual qualities. 
We need those, no matter how perfect the organization is outside. There is just as 
much need of nerve, hardihood, power to face risks and accept responsibilities, in 



340 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

the engineer and the fireman, whether on a flyer or a freight train, now as there 
ever was. Much can be done by the Association. A great deal can be accomplished 
by working each for all and all for each; but we must not forget that the first 
requisite in accomplishing that is that each man should work for others by working 
for himself, by developing his own capacity. 

The steady way in which a man can rise is illustrated by a little thing that 
happened yesterday. I came down here over the Queen and Crescent Railroad, 
and the general manager, who handled my train and who handled yours, was 
Mr. Maguire. I used to know him in the old days when he was here on his 
way up, and he began right at the bottom. He was a fireman at one time. He 
worked his way straight up, and now he is general manager. 

AN OBJECT LESSON IN CITIZENSHIP 

I believe so emphatically in your organization because, while it teaches the need 
of working in union, of working in association, of working with, deep in our hearts, 
not merely on our lips, the sense of Brotherhood, yet of necessity it still keeps, as 
your organization always must keep, to the forefront the worth of the individual 
qualities of a man. I said to you that I came here in a sense not to speak to you, 
but to use your experience as an object-lesson for all of us, an object-lesson in good 
American citizenship. All professions, of course, do not call for the exercise to the 
same degree of the qualities of which I have spoken. Your profession is one of 
those which I am inclined to feel play in modern life a greater part from the stand- 
point of character than we entirely realize. There is in modern life, with the 
growth of civilization and luxury, a certain tendency to softening of the national 
fiber. There is a certain tendency to forget, in consequence of their disuse, the 
rugged virtues which lie at the back of manhood; and I feel that professions like 
yours, like the profession of the railroad men of the country, have a tonic efifect 
upon the whole body politic. 

It is a good thing that there should be a large body of our fellow-citizens— that 
there should be a profession — whose members must, year in and year out, display 
these old, old qualities of courage, daring, resolution, unflinching willingness to 
meet danger at need. I hope to see all our people develop the softer, gentler virtues 
to an ever-increasing degree, but I hope never to see them lose the sterner virtues 
that make men men. 

A man is not going to be a fireman or an engineer, or serve well in any other 
capacity on a railroad long if he has a "streak of yellow" in him. You are going to 
find it out, and he is going to be painfully conscious of it, very soon. It is a fine 
thing for oui people that we should have those qualities in evidence before us in the 
life-work of a big group of our citizens. 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 341 

In American citizenship, we can succeed permanently only upon the basis of 
standing shoulder to shoulder, working in association, by organization, each work- 
ing for all, and yet remembering that we need each so to shape things that each man 
can develop to best advantage all the forces and powers at his command. In your 
organization you accomplish much by means of the Brotherhood, but you accom- 
plish it because of the men who go to make up the Brotherhood. 

If you had exactly the organization, exactly the laws, exactly the system, and 
yet were yourselves a poor set of men, the system would not save you. I will 
guarantee that, from time to time, you have men to go in to try to serve for the nine 
months who prove that they do not have the stuff in them out of which you can make 
good men. You have the stuff in you, and, if j'ou have the stuff, you can make out 
of it a much finer man by means of the association— but you must have the material 
out of which to makejt. So it is in citizenship. 

THE BLUE AND THE GRAY 

And now let me say a word, speaking not merely especially to the Brotherhood, 
but to all our citizens. Governor McMillin, Mr. Mayor, I fail to see how any 
American can come to Chattanooga and go over the great battlefields in the neigh- 
borhood—the battlefields here in this State and just across the border in my 
mother's State of Georgia— how any American can come here and see evidences 
of the mighty deeds done by the men who wore the blue and the men who wore 
the gray, and not go away a better American, prouder of the country, prouder 
because of the valor displayed on both sides in the contest— the valor, the self-devo. 
tion, the loyalty to the right as each side saw the right. Yesterday I was presented 
w?ith a cane cut from the Chickamauga battlefield by some young men of northern 
Georgia. On the cane were engraved the names of the Union generals and three 
Confederate generals. One of these Union generals was at that time showing me 
over the battlefield— General Boynton. Under one of the Confederate generals- 
General Wheeler — I myself sen-ed. In my regiment there served under me in the 
ranks a son of General Hood, who commanded at one time the Confederate army 
against General Sherman. The only captain whom I had the opportunity of pro- 
moting to field rank, and to whom this promotion was given for gallantry on the 
field, was Micah Jenkins, of South Carolina, the son of a Confederate general, 
whose name you will find recorded among those who fought at Chickamauga. 

Two of my captains were killed at Santiago; one was Allyn Capron, the fifth in 
line who, from father to son, had served in the regular army of the United 
States, who had served in every war in which our country had been engaged ; 
the other. Buck O'Neill. His father had fought under Meagher, when, on 
the day at Fredericksburg, his brigade left more men under the stone wall than did 



342 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

any other brigade. I had in my regiment men from the North and South; men 
from the East and the West; men -whose fathers had fought under Grant, and 
whose fathers had fought under Lee; college graduates, capitalists' sons, wage- 
workers, the man of means and the man who all his life owed each day's bread 
to the day's toil. I had Catholic, Protestant, Jew and Gentile under me. 
Among my captains were men whose forefathers had been among the first white 
men to settle on Massachusetts Bay and on the banks of the James, and others 
whose parents had come from Germany, from Ireland, from England, from 
France. They were all Americans and nothing else, and each man stood on his 
worth as a man, to be judged by it, and to succeed or fail accordingly as he 
did well or ill. Compared to the giant death-wrestles that reeled over the moun- 
tains round about this city, the fight at Santiago was the merest skirmish; but 
the spirit in which we handled ourselves there, I hope, was the spirit in which 
we have to face our duties as citizens if we are to make this Republic what it 

must be made. 

A GOOD SENTIMENT 

Yesterday, in passing over the Chickamauga battlefield, I was immensely 
struck by the monument raised by Kentucky to the Union and Confederate sol- 
diers from Kentucky who fell on that battlefield. The inscription read as fol- 
lows: "As we are united in life, and they united in death, let one monument 
perpetuate their deeds, and one people, forgetful of all asperities, forever hold in 
grateful remembrance all the glories of that terrible conflict which made all men 
free and retained every star on the nation's flag." That is a good sentiment. 
That is a sentiment by which we can all stand. And oh, my friends, what does 
that sentiment have as its underlying spirit? The spirit of brotherhood. 

I firmly believe in my countrymen, and therefore I believe that the chief 
thing necessary in order that they shall work together is that they shall know 
one another — that the Northerner shall know the Southerner, and the man of 
one occupation know the man of another occupation; the man who works in one 
walk of life know the man who works in another walk of life, so that we may 
realize that the things which divide us are superficial, are unimportant, and that 
we are, and must ever be, knit together into one indissoluble mass by our 
common American brotherhood. 

Speech at Music Hall, Cincinnati, Ohio 

September 20, 1902 
Mr. Mayor, and you, my Fellow- Americans: I shall ask your attention to 
what I shall say to-night, because I intend to make a perfectly serious argument 
to you, and I shall be obliged if you will remain as still as possible; and I ask 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 343 

that those at the very back will remember that if they talk or make a noise it 
interferes with the hearing of the rest. I intend to speak to you on a serious 
subject and to make an argument as the chief executive of a nation, who is the 
president of all the people, without regard to party, without regard to section. 
I intend to make to you an argument from the standpoint simply of one Ameri- 
can talking to his fellow-Americans upon one of the great subjects of interest to 
all alike; and that subject is what are commonly known as the trusts. That 
word is used very loosely and almost always with technical inaccuracy. The 
average man, however, when he speaks of the trusts means rather vaguely all 
of the very big corporations, the growth of which has been so signal a feature 
of our modern civilization, and especially those big corporations which, though 
organized in one State, do business in several States, and often have a tendency 
to monopoly. 

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR CHANGED CONDITIONS 

The whole subject of the trusts is of vital concern to us, because it presents 
one, and perhaps the most conspicuous, of the many problems forced upon our 
attention by the tremendous industrial development which has taken place during 
the last centurj-, a development which is occurring in all civilized countries, 
notably in our own. There have been many factors responsible for bringing about 
these changed conditions. Of these, steam and electricity are the chief. The 
extraordinary changes in the methods of transportation of merchandise and of 
transmission of news have rendered not only possible, but inevitable, the immense 
increase in the rate of growth of our great industrial centers — that is, of our great 
cities. I want you to bring home to yourselves that fact. When Cincinnati vtus 
founded, news could be transmitted and merchandise carried exactly as had been 
the case in the days of the Roman Empire. You had here on your river the flat- 
boat, you had on the ocean the sailing-ship, you had the pack-train, you had the 
wagon, and every one of the four was known when Babylon fell. The change in 
the last hundred years has been greater by far than the changes in all the pre- 
ceding three thousand. Those are the facts. Because of them have resulted 
the specialization of industries, and the unexampled opportunities offered for the 
employment of huge amounts of capital, and therefore the rise in the business 
world of those master minds through whom alone it is possible for such vast 
amounts of capital to be employed with profit. It matters very little whether we 
like these new conditions or whether we dislike them; whether we like the crea- 
tion of these new opportunities or not. Many admirable qualities which were 
developed in the older, simpler, less progressive life, have tended to atrophy 
under our rather feverish, high-pressure, complex life of to-day. But our likes 



344 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

and dislikes have nothing to do with the matter. The new conditions are here. 
You can't bring back the old days of the canal-boat and stage-coach if you wish. 
The steamboat and the railroad are here. The new forces have produced both good 
and e\-il. We cannot get rid of them — even if it were not undesirable to get rid of 
them; and our instant duty is to trj' to accommodate our social, economic, and legis- 
lative life to them, and to frame a system of law and conduct under which we shall 
get out of them the utmost possible benefit and the least possible amount of harm. 
It is foolish to pride ourselves upon our progress and prosperity, upon our command- 
ing position in the international industrial world, and at the same time have nothing 
but denunciation for the men to whose commanding position we in part owe this 
very progress and prosperity, this commanding position. 

Whenever great social or industrial changes take place, no matter how much 
good there may be to them, there is sure to be some evil, and it usually takes man- 
kind a number of years and a good deal of experimenting before they find the right 
ways in which, so far as possible, to control the new evil, without at the same time 
nullifying the new good. I am stating facts so obvious that if each one of you will 
think them over, you will think them trite, but if you read or listen to some of the 
arguments advanced, you will come to the conclusion that there is need of learning 
these trite truths. In these circumstances the effort to bring the new tendencies to 
a standstill is^always futile and generally mischievous; but it is possible somewhat 
to develop them aright. Law can to a degree guide, protect, and control industrial 
development, but it can never cause it, or play more than a subordinate part in its 
healthy development — unfortunately it is easy enough by bad laws to bring it to an 
almost complete stop. 

EVOLUTION-NOT REVOLUTION 

In dealing vi-ith the big corporations which we call trusts, we must resolutely pur- 
pose to proceed by evolution and not revolution. We wish to face the facts, declin- 
ing to have our vision blinded either by the folly of those who say there are no 
evils, or by the more dangerous folly of those who either see, or make believe that 
they see nothing but evil in all the existing system, and who if given their way would 
destroy the evil by the simple process of bringing ruin and disaster to the entire 
country. The evils attendant upon over-capitalization alone are, in my judgment, 
sufEcient to warrant a far closer supervision and control than now exist over the 
great corporations. Wherever a substantial monopoly can be shown to exist, we 
should certainly tiy our utmost to devise an expedient by which it can be controlled. 
Doubtless some of the evils existing in or because of the great corporations cannot 
be cured by any legislation which has yet been proposed, and doubtless others, which 
have really been incident to the sudden development in the formation of corporations 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 345 

of all kinds, will in the end cure themselves. But there will remain a certain num- 
ber which can be cured if we decide that bj' the power of the government they are 
to be cured. The surest way to prevent the possibility of curing any of them is to 
approach the subject in a spirit of violent rancor, complicated with total ignorance of 
business interests, and fundamental incapacity or unwillingness to understand the 
limitations upon all law-making bodies. No problem, and least of all so difficult a 
problem as this, can be solved if the qualities brought to its solution arc panic, fear, 
envy, hatred and ignorance. There can exist in a free republic no mau more wicked, 
no man more dangerous to the people, than he who would arouse these feelings in 
the hope that they would redound to his own political advantage. Corporatit)ns that 
are handled honestly and fairly, so far from being an evil, are a natural business 
evolution and make for the general prosperity of our land. We do not wish to 
destroy corporations, but we do wish to make them subser\^e the public good. All 
individuals, rich or poor, private or corporate, must be subject to the law of the land ; 
and the government will hold them to a rigid obedience thereof. The biggest cor- 
poration, like the humblest private citizen, nuist be held to strict compliance with 
the will of the people as expressed in the fundamental law. The rich man who docs 
not see that this is in his interest is, indeed, short-sighted. When we make him 
obey the law we insure for him the absolute protection of the law. 

ADMINISTERED FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL 

The savings banks show what can be done in the way of genuinely beneficent 
work by large corporations when intelligently administered and supervised. They 
now hold over twenty-six hundred millions of the people's money and pay annually 
about one hundred millions of interest or profit to their depositors. There is no talk 
of danger from these corporations ; yet they possess gi'eat power, holding over three 
times the amount of our present national debt; more than all the currency, gold, sil- 
^ver, greenbacks, etc., in circulation in the United States. The chief reason for there 
being no talk of danger from them is that they are, on the whole, fa'thfully adminis- 
tered for the benefit of all, under wise laws which require frequent and full publica- 
tion of their condition, and which prescribe certain needful regulations with which 
they have to comply, while at the same time giving full scope for the business enter- 
prise of their managers within these limits. 

Now, of course, savings banks are as highly specialized a class of corporations as 
railroads, and we cannot force too far the analogy with other corporations ; but there 
are certain conditions which I think we can lay down as indispensable to the proper 
treatment of all corporations which from their size have become important factors in 
the social development of the community. 

Before speaking, however, of what can be done by way of remedy, let me say a 



346 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

word or two as to certain proposed remedies which, in my judgment, would be 
ineflfective or mischievous. The first thing to remember is that if we are to accom- 
plish any good at all it must be by resolutely keeping in the mind the intention to do 
away with any evils in the conduct of big corporations, while steadfastly refusing to 
assent to indiscriminate assault upon all forms of corporate capital as such. The 
line of demarcation we draw must always be on conduct, not upon wealth ; our 
objection to any given corporation must be, not that it is big, but that it behaves 
badly. Perfectly simple again, my friends, but not always heeded by some of those 
who would strive to teach us how to act toward big corporations. Treat the head of the 
corporation as you would treat all other men. If he does well, stand by him. You 
will occasionally find the head of a big corporation who objects to that treatment; 
very good, apply it all the more carefully. Remember, after all, that he who objects 
because he is the head of a big corporation to being treated like any one else is only 
guilty of the same sin as the man who wished him treated worse than any one else 
because he is the head of a big corporation. Demagogic denunciation of wealth is 
never wholesome and generally dangerous; and not a few of the proposed methods 
of curbing the trusts are dangerous chiefly because all insincere advocacy of the 
impossible is dangerous. It is an unhealthy thing for a community when the 
appeal is made to follow a course which those who make the appeal either do 
know or ought to know cannot be followed ; and which, if followed, would result 
in disaster to everybody. Loose talk about destroying monopoly out of hand, 
without a hint as to how the monopoly should even be defined, oflfers a case in 
point. 

A DAMAGE TO THE COMMUNITY 

Nor can we afford to tolerate any proposal which will strike at the so-called 
trusts only by striking at the general well-being. We are now enjoying a period 
of great prosperity. The prosperity is generally diffused through all sections and 
through all classes. Doubtless there are some individuals who do not get enough 
of it, and there are others who get too much. That is simply another way of 
saying that the wisdom of mankind is finite; and that even the best human sys- 
tem does not work perfectly. You don't have to take my word for that. Look 
back just nine years. In 1893 nobody was concerned in downing the trusts. 
Everybody was concerned in trying to get up himself. The men who propose to 
get rid of the evils of the trusts by measures which would do away with the 
general well-being, advocate a policy which would not only be a damage to the 
community as a whole, but which would defeat its own professed object. If we are 
forced to the alternative of choosing either a system under which most of us prosper 
somewhat, though a few of us prosper too much, or else a system vmder which no ouo 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 347 

prospers enough, of course we will choose the former. If the policy advocated is so 
revolutionary and destructive as to involve the whole community in the crash of com- 
mon disaster, it is certain as anything can be that when the disaster has occurred all 
efforts to regulate the trusts will cease, and that the one aim will be to restore 
prosperity. 

NECESSARY FIRST TO DEFINE TRUSTS 

A remedy much advocated at the moment is to take off the tariff from all articles 
which are made by trusts. To do this it will be necessary first to define trusts. 
The language commonly used by the advocates of the method implies that they 
mean all articles made by large corporations, and that the changes in tariff are to be 
made with punitive intent towards these large corporations. Of course, the tariff is 
to be changed in order to punish them ; it should be changed, so as to punish those that 
do ill, not merely those that are prosperous. It would be neither just nor expedient 
to punish the big corporations as big corporations; what we wish to do is to protect 
the people from any evil that may grow out of their existence or mal-administration. 
Some of these corporations do well and others do ill. If in any case the tariff is 
found to foster a monoply which does ill, of course no protectionist would object to a 
modification of the tariff sufficient to remedy the evil. But in very few cases does 
the so-called trust really monopolize the market. Take any very big corporation — -I 
could mention them by the score— which controls, say something in the neighborhood 
of half of the products of a given industry. It is the kind of a corporation that is 
always spoken of as a trust. Surely, in rearranging the schedules affecting such a 
corporation it would be necessary to consider the interests of its smaller competitors 
which control the remaining part, and which, being weaker, would suffer most from 
any tariff designed to punish all the producers; for, of course, the tariff must be made 
light or heavy for big and little producers alike. Moreover, such a corporation neces- 
sarily employs very many thousands, often very many tens of thousands of work- 
men, and the minute we proceeded from denunciation to action it would be necessary 
to consider the interests of these workmen. Furthermore, the products of many 
trusts are unprotected, and would be entirely uuaft'ected by any change in the tariff, 
or at most very slightly so. The Standard Oil Company offers a case in point; and 
the corporations which control the anthracite coal output offer another — for there is 
no duty whatever on anthracite coal. 

lam not now discussing the question of the tariff as such; whether from the 
standpoint of the fundamental difference between those who believe in a protective 
tariff and those who believe in free trade ; or from the standpoint of those who, while 
they believe in a protective tariff", feel that there could be a rearrangement of our 
schedules, either by direct legislation or by reciprocity treaties, which would result in 
enlarging our markets; nor yet from the standpoint of those who feel that stability of 



348 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

economic policy is at the moment our prime economic need, and that the benefits to 
be derived from any change in schedules would not compensate for the damage to 
business caused by the widespread agitation which would follow any attempted general 
revision of the tariff at this moment. Without regard to the wisdom of any one of 
those three positions, it remains true that the real evils connected with the trusts can- 
not be remedied by any change in the tariff laws. The trusts can be damaged by 
depriving them of the benefits of a protective tariff only on condition of damaging 
all their smaller competitors, and all the wage-workers employed in the industry. 

APART FROM THE QUESTION OF TARIFF REVISION 

This point is very important, and it is desirable to avoid any misunderstanding 
concerning it. I am not now considering whether or not, on grounds totally uncon- 
nected with the trusts, it would be well to lower the duties on various schedules, either 
by direct legislation or treaties designed to secure as an offset reciprocal advantages 
from the nations with which we trade. My point is that changes in the tariff would 
have little appreciable effect on the trusts save as they shared in the general harm or 
good proceeding from such changes. No tariff change would help one of our smaller 
corporations, or one of our private individuals in business, still less one of our wage- 
workers, as against a large corporation in the same business; on the contrary, if it 
bore heavily on the large corporation, it would inevitably be felt still more by that 
corporation's weaker rivals, while]any injurious result would of necessity be shared by 
both the employer and the employed in the business concerned. The immediate 
introduction of substantial free trade in all articles manufactured by trusts, that is, by 
the largest and most successful corporations, would not affect some of the most 
powerful of our business combinations in the least, save by the damage done to the 
general business welfare of the country; others would undoubtedly be seriously 
affected, but much less .so than their weaker rivals, while the loss would be divided 
between the capitalists and the laborers; and after the years of panic and distress 
had been lived through, and some return to prosperity had occurred, even though 
all were on a lower plane of prosperity than before, the relative difference between 
the trusts and their rivals would remain as marked as ever. In other words, the 
trust, or big corporation, would have suffered relatively to, and in the interest of, its 
foreign competitor ; but its relative position towards its American conpetitors would 
probably be improved; little would have been done towards cutting out or minim- 
izing the evils in the trusts; nothing towards securing adequate control and regula- 
tion of the large modern corporations. In other words, the question of regulating 
the trusts with a view to minimizing or abolishing e\als existent in them, is separate 
and apart from the question of tariff revision. 

You must face the fact that only harm will come from a proposition to 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 349 

attack the so-called trusts in a vindictive spirit by measures conceived solely 
with a desire of hurting them, without regard as to whether or not discrimina- 
tion should be made between the good and evil in them, and without even any 
regard as to whether a necessary sequence of the action would be the hurting of 
other interests. The adoption of such a policy would mean damage to all of our 
business interests, but the eflfect would be only temporary, for exactly as the damage 
affected all alike, good and bad, so the reaction would affect all alike, good and bad. 
The necessary surpervision and control in which I firmly believe as the only method 
of eliminating the real evils of the trusts must come through wisely and cautiously 
framed legislation which shall aim, in the first place, to give definite control to some 
sovereign over the great corporations, and which shall be followed, when once this 
power has been conferred, by a system giving to the government the full knowledge 
which is the essential for satisfactory action. Then when this knowledge— one of 
the essential features of which is proper publicitj' — has been gained, what further 
steps of anj' kind are necessary' can be taken with the confidence born of the posses- 
sion of power to deal with the subject, and of a thorough knowledge of what should 
and can be done in the matter. 

WE NEED KNOWLEDGE 

We need additional power; and we need knowledge. Our constitution was 
framed when the economic conditions were so different that each State could wisely 
be left to handle the corporations within its limits as it saw fit. Nowadays all the 
corporations which I am considering do what is really an interstate busiuess, and as 
the States have proceeded on very different lines in regulating them, at present a 
corporation will be organized in one State, not because it intends to do business in 
that State, but because it does not. and therefore that State can give it better 
privileges, and then it will do business in some other States, and will claim not to be 
under the control of the States in which it does business; and, of course, it is not the 
object of the State creating it to exercise any control over it, as it does not do any 
business in that State. Such a sy.stem cannot obtain. There must be some ."iover- 
eign. It might be better if all the States could agree along the same lines in dealing 
with these corporations, but I see not the slightest prospect of such an agreement. 
Therefore I per.sonally feel that ultimately the nation will have to assume the 
responsibility of regulating these very large corporations which do interstate business. 
The States must combine to meet the way in which capital has combined; and the 
way in which the States can combine is through the national government. But I 
firmly believe that all these obstacles can be met if only we face them, both with the 
determination to overcome them, and with the further determination to overcome 
them in ways which shall not do damage to the country as a whole; which, on the 



350 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

contrary, shall further our industrial development, and shall help instead of hindering 
all corporations which work out their success by means that are just and fair towards 
all men. 

Without the adoption of a constitutional amendment my belief is that a good 
deal can be done by law. It is difficult to say exactly how much, because experi- 
ence has taught us that in dealing with these subjects where the lines dividing the 
rights and duties of the States and of the nation are in doubt it has sometimes been 
difficult for Congress to forecast the action of the courts upon its legislation. Such 
legislation (whether obtainable now, or obtainable only after a constitutional amend- 
ment) should provide for a reasonable supervision, the most prominent feature of 
which at first should be publicity ; that is, the making public both to the govern- 
mental authorities and to the people at large the essential facts in which the public 
is concerned. This would give us exact knowledge of many points which are now 
not only in doubt but the subject of fierce controversy. Moreover, the mere fact of 
the publication would cure some very grave evils, for the light of day is a deterrent 
to wrong-doing. It would doubtless disclose others which could be grappled with 
and cured by further legislative action. 

Remember, I advocated the action which the president can only advise, and 
which he has no power himself to take. Under our present legislative and constitu- 
tional limitations, the national executive can work only between narrow lines in the 
field of action concerning great corporations. Between those lines, I assure you 
that exact and even-handed justice will be dealt, and is being dealt, to all men, 
without regard to persons. 

THE FRIEND OF THE HONEST MAN 

I wish to repeat with all emphasis that, desirable though it is that the nation 
should have the power I suggest, it is equally desirable that it should be used with 
wisdom and self-restraint. The mechanism of modern business is tremendous in its 
size and complexity, and ignorant intermeddling with it would be disastrous. We 
should not be made timid or daunted by the size of the problem ; we should not fear 
to undertake it ; but we should undertake it with ever present in our minds dread of 
the sinister spirits of rancor, ignorance, and vanity. We need to keep steadily in 
mind the fact that besides the tangible property in each corporation there lies behind 
the spirit which brings it success, and in the case of each very successful corporation 
this is usually the spirit of some one man or set of men. Under exactly similar con- 
ditions one corporation will make a stupendous success where another makes a 
stupendous failure, simply because one is well managed and the other is not. While 
making it clear that we do not intend to allow wrong-doing by one of the captains of 
industry any more than by the humblest private in the industrial ranks, we must also 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 351 

in the interest of all of us avoid cramping a strength which, if beneficially used, will 
be for the good of us all. The marvelous prosperity which we have been enjoying 
for the past few years has been due primarily to the high average of honesty, thrift, 
and business capacity among our people as a whole, but some of it has also been due 
to the ability of the men who are the industrial leaders of the nation. In securing 
just and_fair dealing by these men, let us remember to do them justice in return, and 
this not only because it is our duty, but because it is our interest; not only for 
their sakes, but for ours. We are neither the friend of the rich man as such, nor the 
friend of the poor man as such ; we are the friend of the honest man, rich or poor ; 
and we intend that all men, rich and poor alike, shall obey the law alike and receive 
its protection alike. 

Address at Logansport Indiana 

September 23, 1902 

Fellow-Citizens: 

I am going to ask you to take what I say at its exact face value, as I 
like whatever I say to be taken. We believe that the American business man 
is of peculiar type; and probably the qualities of energy, daring, and resource- 
fulness which have given him his prominence in the international industrial 
world find their highest development here in the West. It is the merest truism 
to say that in the modern world industrialism is the great factor in the growth 
of nations. Material prosperity is the foundation upon which every mighty 
national structure must be built. Of course there must be more than this. There 
must be a high moral purpose, a life of the spirit which finds its expression in many 
different ways; but unless material prosperity exists also, there is scant room in which 
to develop the higher life. The productive activity of our vast army of workers, of 
those who work with head or hands, is the prime cause of the giant growth of this 
nation. We have great natural resources, but such resources are never more than 
opportunities, and they count for nothing if the men in possession have not the power 
to take advantage of them. You have built up in the West these cities of the Mis- 
sissippi Valley and the Great Lakes, as all the region round about them has been built 
up — that is, because you had the qualities of heart and brain, the qualities of moral 
and physical fiber, which enabled you to use to the utmost advantage whatever you 
found ready to your hands. You win not by shirking diflScuIties, but by facing and 
overcoming them. 

In such development laws play a certain part, but individual characteristics a 
still greater part. A great and successful commonwealth like ours in the long run 
works under good laws, because a people endowed with honest and practical com- 
mon sense ultimately demand good laws. But no law can create industrial well- 



352 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

being, altliough it may foster and safeguard it, and although a bad law may destroy it. 
The prime factor in securing industrial well-being is the high average of citizenship 
found in the community. The best laws that the wit of man can devise would not 
make a community of thriftless and idle men prosperous. No scheme of legislation 
or of social reform will ever work good to the community unless it recognizes ao fun- 
damental the fact that each man's own individual qualities must be the prime factors 
in his success. Work in combination may help and the State can do a good deal in 
its own sphere, but in the long run each man must rise or fall on his own merits; 
each man must owe his success in life to whatever of hardihood, of resolution, of 
common sense, and of capacity for lofty endeavor he has within his own soul. It is a 
good thing to act in combination for the common good, but it is a very unhealthy 
thing to let ourselves think for one moment that anything can ever supply the want 
of our own individual watchfulness and exertion. 

CONFIDENE ESSENTIAL TO CREDIT 

Yet, given this high average of individual ability and Invention, we must ever 
keep in mind that it may be nullified by bad legislation, and that it can be given a 
chance to develop under the most favorable conditions by good legislation. Prob- 
ably the most important aid which can be contributed by the national government to 
the material well-being of a country is to insure its financial stability. An honest 
currency is the strongest symbol and expression of honest business life. The busi- 
ness world must exist largely on credit, and to credit confidence is essential. Any 
tampering with the currency, no matter with what purpose, if fraught with the sus- 
picion of dishonesty in result, is fatal in its effect on business prosperity. Very 
ignorant and primitive communities are continually obliged to learn the elementary 
truth that the repudiation of debts is in the end ruinous to the debtors as a class; 
and when communities have moved somewhat higher in the scale of civilization 
they also learn that anything in the nature of a debased currency works similar 
damage. A financial system of assured honesty is the first essential. 

Another essential for any community is perseverance in the economic policy 
which for a course of years is found best fitted to its peculiar needs. The ques- 
tion of combining such fixedness of economic policy as regards the tariff, while 
at the same time allowing for a necessary and proper readjustment of duties in 
particular schedules as such readjustment becomes a matter of pressing impor- 
tance, is not an easy one. It is, perhaps, too much to expect that from the dis- 
cussion of such a question it would be possible wholly to eliminate political 
partisanship. Yet those who believe, as we all must when we think seriously of 
the subject, that the proper aim of the party system is, after all, simply to sub- 
serve the public good, cannot but hope that where such partisanship on a mat. 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSl'A'ELT 353 

tcr of this kind conflicts with the public good, it shall at least be niiuimizcd. 
It is all right and inevitable that we should divide on party lines, but woe to 
us, if we are not Americans first and party men second! What we really need 
in this country is to treat the tariff as a business proposition from the stand, 
point of the interests of the couutrj' as a whole, and not from the standpoint of the 
temporary needs of any political party. It surely ought not to be necessary to dwell 
upon the extreme unwisdom, from a business standpoint, from the standpoint of 
national prosperit)-, of violent and radical changes amounting to the direct upsetting 
of tariflf policies at intervals of every few years. A nation like ours can adjust its 
business after a fashion to any kind of tariflf. But neither our nation nor any other 
can stand the ruinous policy of readjusting its business to radical changes in the tariff 
at short intervals. This is more true now than ever it was before, for, owing to the 
immense extent and variety of our products, the tariff schedules of to-day carry rates 
of duty on more than four thousand articles. Continual sweeping changes in such a 
tariff, touching so intimately the commercial interests of the nation which stands as 
one of the two or three greatest in the whole industrial world, cannot but be^disas- 
trous. Yet, on the other hand, where the industrial needs of the nation shift as 
rapidly as they do with us, it is a matter of prime importance that we should be able 
to readjust our economic policy as rapidly as possible and with as little friction as 
possible to these needs. 

PARALYZE THE INDUSTRIES 

We need a scheme which will enable us to provide a reapplication of the prin- 
ciple to the changed conditions. The problem, therefore, is to devise some method 
by which these shifting needs can be recognized and the necessary readjustments of 
duties pro\'ided without forcing the entire business community, and therefore the 
entire nation, to submit to a violent surgical operation, the mere threat of which, and 
still more the accomplished fact of which, would probably paralyze for a considerable 
time all the industries of the country. Such radical action might very readily repro- 
duce the conditions from which we suflfered nine years ago, in 1893. It is on every 
account most earnestly to be hoped that this problem can be solved in some manner 
into which partisanship shall enter as a purely secondary consideration, if at all — 
that is, in some manner which shall provide for an earnest eflfort by non-partisan 
inquiry and action to secure any changes the need of which is indicated by the effect 
found to proceed from a given rate of duty on a given article : its eflfect, if any, as 
regards the creation of a substantial monopoly ; its effect upon domestic prices, upon 
the revenue of the government, upon importations from abroad, upon home produc- 
tion, and upon consumption. In other words, we need to devise some machinery by 
which while persevering in the policy of a protective tariff, in which I think the 



3S4 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

nation as a whole has now generally acquiesced, we would be able to correct the 
irregularities and remove the incongruities produced by changing conditions, with- 
out destroying the whole structure. .Such machinery would permit us to continue 
our definitely settled tariff pclicy, while providing for the changes in duties upon 
particular schedules which must inevitably and necessarily take place from time to 
time as matters of legislative and administrative detail. This would secure the 
needed stability of economic policy, which is a prime factor in our industrial success, 
while doing away with any tendency to fossilization. It would recognize the fact 
that as our needs shift it may be found advisable to alter rates and .schedules, adapt- 
ing them to the changed condition.s and necessities of the whole people; and this 
would be in no wise incompatible with preserving the principle of protection, for 
belief in the wisdom of a protective tariff is in no way inconsistent with frankly 
admitting the desirability of changing a set of schedules, when from any cause 
such change is in the interests of the nation as a whole — and our tariff policy 
is designed to favor the interests of the nation as a whole and not those of any par- 
ticular set of individuals, save as an incident to this building up of national well- 
being. There are two or three different methods by which it will be possible to pro- 
vide such readjustment without any shock to the business world. My personal 
preference would be for action which should be taken only after preliminary inquiry 
by, and upon the findings of, a body of experts of such high character and ability 
that they could be trusted to deal with the subject purely from the standpoint of our 
business and industrial needs; but, of course. Congress would have to determine for 
itself the exact method to be followed. The executive has at its command the means 
for gathering most of the necessary data, and can act whenever it is the desire of 
Congress that it should act. That the machinery for carrying out the policy above 
outlined can be provided I am very certain, if only our people will make up their 
minds that the health of the community will be subserved by treating the whole 
question primarily from the standpoint of the business interests of the entire coun 
try, rather than from the standpoint of the fancied interests of any group of 
politicians. 

AMERICAN WORKMAN MUST BE PROTECTED 

Of course, in making any changes we should have to proceed in accordance with 
certain fixed and definite principles, and the most important of these is an avowed 
determination to protect the interests of the American producer, be he business man, 
wage-worker, or farmer. The one consideration which must never be omitted in a 
tariff change is the imperative need of preserving the American standard of living 
for the American workingman. The tariff rate must never fall below that which 
will protect the American workingman by allowing for the difference between the 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 355 

generallabor cost here and abroad, so as at least to equalize the conditions arising from 
the difference in the standard of labor here and abroad — a difference which it should 
be our duty to foster in so far as it represents the needs of better educated, better paid, 
better fed, and better clothed workingmen of a higher type than any to be found in 
a foreign country. At all hazards, and no matter what else is sought for or accom- 
plished by changes of the tariff, the American workingman must be protected in his 
standard of wages — that is, in his standard of living, and must be secured the fullest 
opportunity of employment. Our laws should in no event afford advantage to 
foreign industries over American industries. They should in no event do less than 
equalize the difference in conditions at home and abroad. The general tariff policy 
to which, without regard to changes in detail, I believe this country to be irrevocably 
committed, is fundamentally based upon ample recognition of the difference in labor 
cost here and abroad; in other words, the recognition of the need for full develop- 
ment of the intelligence, the comfort, the high standard of civilized living and 
the inventive genius of the American workingman as compared to the working- 
man of any other country in the world. 

WE CAN AND WILL WIN 

It is pretty simple to go just one way and turn another way, and then go 
another way, if somebody tells you how, but if you have got to think for your- 
self, then you appreciate the fact that the man on your right hand is thinking 
too, and that he will "stay put." We won in the Civil War because we had the 
manhood to which to appeal. We are going to win as a nation in the great 
industrial contest of the present day, because the average American has in him 
the stuff out of which victors are made — victors in the industrial and victors in 
the military world. And we can preser\'e the mar\'elous prosperity which we 
now enjoy, not by shirking facts, not by being afraid — that was not how you 
won from '61 to '65. There were people who said you could not win, but you 
did, and the people who won were those who looked up and not those who looked 
down. You recollect that before Bull Run there were some excellent people who 
denounced Abraham Lincoln because he did not go into Richmond at once; and after 
Bull Run they said the war was ended ; but it was not ended ; it took three years 
and nine months to end it, and then it ended the other ■wa.y. Now, gentlemen, we 
can win and we will win as citizens of this republic by showing in the complex, hard, 
pushing life of this century, the same qualities that were shown by the men of the 
Civil War in that contest; and above all by keeping the high average of individual 
citizenship which made the armies that saw Appomattox the finest which the world 
has ever seen. 



355 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Speech at the Chamber of Commerce Banquet 

New York, November ii, 1902 
Mr. President, Gentlemen, and you, the Guests, whom we welcome here this 
evening: I do not wish to speak to you in the language of idle compliment, and yet 
it is but a bare statement of fact to say that nowhere in our country could there be 
gathered an audience which would stand as more typically characteristic than this of 
all those qualities and attributes which have given us of the United States our com- 
manding position in the industrial world. There is no need of my preaching to this 
gathering the need of combining efficiency with upright dealing, for as an American 
and as a citizen of New York I am proud to feel that the name of your organization 
carries with it a guaranty of both ; and your practice counts for more than any 
preaching could possibly count. New York is a city of national importance, because 
its position toward the nation is unique, and the Chamber of Commerce of New 
York must of necessity be an element of weight in the commercial and industrial 
welfare of the entire people. New York is the great port of entry for our country— 
the port in which centers the bulk of the foreign commerce of the country — and her 
welfare is therefore no matter of mere local or municipal, but of national, concern. 
The conduct of the government in dealing with all matters affecting the financial 
and commercial relations of New York must continually take into account this fact ; 
and it must be taken into account in appreciating the importance of the part played 
by the New York Chamber of Commerce. 

THE VOICE OF THE JUST MAN ARMED 

This body stands for the triumphs of peace both abroad and at home. We have 
passed that stage of national development when depreciation of other peoples is felt 
as a tribute to our own. We watch the growth and prosperity of other nations, not 
with hatred or jealousy, but with sincere and friendly good-will. I think I can say 
safely that we have shown by our attitude toward Cuba, by our attitude toward 
China, that as regards weaker powers our desire is that they may be able to stand 
alone, and that if they will only show themselves willing to deal honestly and fairly 
with the rest of mankind we on our side will do all we can to help, not to hinder 
them. With the great powers of the world we desire no rivalry that is not honorable 
to both parties. We wish them well. We believe that the trend of the modern spirit 
is ever stronger toward peace, not war; toward friendship, not hostility, as the nor- 
mal international attitude. We are glad, indeed, that we are on good terms with all 
the other peoples of mankind, and no effort on our part shall be spared to secure a 
continuance of these relations. And remember, gentlemen, that we shall be a 
potent factor for peace largely in proportion to the way in which we make it evident 
that our attitude is due, not to weakness, not to inability to.defeTid ourselves, but to a 



SPEECHES OF THEODORIC ROOSEVELT 357 

genuine repugnance to wrong-doing, a genuine desire for self-respecting friendship 
■with our neighbors. The voice of the weakling or tlie craven counts for nothing 
when he clamors for peace; but the voice of the just man armed is potent. We need 
to keep in a condition of preparedness, especially as regards our navy, not because 
we want war, but because we desire to stand with those whose plea for peace is 
listened to with respectful attention. 

NO PATENT REMEDY CAN BE DEVISED 

Important though it is that we should have peace abroad, it is even more impor- 
tant that we should have peace at home. You, men of the Chamber of Commerce, 
to whose efforts we owe so much of our industrial well-being, can, I believe surely 
will, be influential in helping toward that industrial peace which can obtain in society 
only when in their various relations employer and employed alike show not merely 
insistence each upon his own rights, but also regard for the rights of others, and a 
full acknowledgment of the interests of the third party— the public. It is no easy 
matter to work out a system or rule of conduct, whether with or without the help of 
the lawgiver, which shall minimize that jarring and clashing of interests in the indus- 
trial world which causes so much individual irritation and suffering at the present 
day. and which at times threatens baleful consequences to large portions of the body 
politic. But the importance of the problem cannot be overestimated, and it deserves 
to receive the careful thought of all men such as those whom I am addressing 
to-night. There should be no yielding to wrong; but there should most certainly be 
not only desire to do right, but a willingness each to try to understand the viewpoint 
of his fellow, with whom, for weal or for woe, his own fortunes are indissolubly 
bound. 

No patent remedy can be devised for the solution of these grave problems in the 
industrial world ; but we may rest assured that the}- can be solved at all only if 
we bring to the solution certain old-time virtues, and if we strive to keep out 
of the solution some of the most familiar and most undesirable of the traits to 
which mankind has owed untold degradation and suffering throughout the ages. 
Arrogance, suspicion, brutal envy of the well-to-do, brutal indifference toward those 
who are not well-to-do, the hard refusal to consider the rights of others, the foolish 
refusal to consider the limits of beneficent action, the base appeal to the spirit of 
selfish greed, whether it take the form of plunder of the fortunate or of oppression of 
the unfortunate — from these and from all kindred vices this nation must be kept free 
if it is to remain in its present position in the forefront of the peoples of mankind. 
On the other hand, good will come, even out of the present evils, if we face them 
armed with the old homely virtues; if we show that we are fearless of soul, cool of 
head, and kindly of heart; if, without betraying the weakness that cringes before 



358 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

wrong-doing, we yet show by deeds and words our knowledge that in such a govern- 
ment as ours each of us must be in very truth his brother's keeper. 

At a time when the growing complexity of our social and industrial life has 
rendered inevitable the intrusion of the State into spheres of work wherein it for- 
merly took no part, and when there is also a growing tendency to demand the illegiti- 
mate and unwise transfer to the government of much of the work that should be 
done by private persons, singly or associated together, it is a pleasure to address a 
body whose members possess to an eminent degree the traditional American self- 
reliance of spirit which makes them scorn to ask from the government, whether of 
States or of nation, anything but a fair field and no favor — who confide not in being 
helped by others, but in their own skill, energy, and business capacity to achieve 
success. The first requisite of a good citizen in this republic of ours is that he shall 
be able and willing to pull his weight — that he shall not be a mere passenger, but 
shall do his share in the work that each generation of us finds ready to hand; and, 
furthermore, that in doing his work he shall show not only the capacity for sturdy 
self-help, but also self-respecting regard for the rights of others. 

DIFFERENT KINDS OF SUCCESS 

The Chamber of Commerce, it is no idle boast to say. stands in a preeminent 
degree for those qualities which make the successful merchant, the successful busi- 
ness man, whose success is won in ways honorable to himself and beneficial to his 
fellows. There are very different kinds of success. There is the kind of success 
that brings with it the seared soul — the success which is achieved by wolfish greed 
and vulpine cunning — the success which makes honest men uneasy or indignant in 
its presence. Then there is the other kind of success — the success which comes as 
the reward of keen insight, of sagacity, of resolution, of address, combined with 
unflinching rectitude of behavior, public and private. The first kind of success may, 
in a sense — and a poor sense at that — benefit the individual, but it is always and 
necessarily a curse to the community; whereas the man who wins the second kind, 
as an incident of its winning, becomes a beneficiary to the whole commonwealth. 
Throughout its history the Chamber of Commerce has stood for this second and 
higher kind of success. It is therefore fitting that I should come on here as the chief 
executive of the nation to wish you well in your new home ; for you belong not 
merely to the city, not merely to the State, but to all the country, and you stand 
high among the great factors in building up that marvelous prosperity which the 
entire country now enjoys. The continuance of this prosperity depends in no 
small measure upon your sanity and common sense, upon the way in which you 
combine energy in action with conservative refusal to take part in the reckless gam- 
bling which is so often bred by, and which so inevitably puts an end to, prosperity. 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 359 

You are men of might in the -world of American effort; you are men whose names 
stand high in the esteem of our people; you are spoken of in terms like those used in 
the long-gone ages when it was said of the Phoenician cities that their merchants 
were princes. Great is your power and great, therefore, your responsibility. Well 
and faithfully have you met this responsibility in the past. We look forward with 
confident hope to what you will do in the future, and it is therefore with sincerity 
that I bid you Godspeed this evening and wish for you, in the name of the nation, a 
career of ever-increasing honor and usefulness. 



Speech al the Founders' Day Banquet 

Union League, Philadelphia, November 22, 1902 
Mr. President, Gentlemen of the Union League: Forty years ago this Club was 
founded, in the dark days of the Civil War, to uphold the hands of Abraham Lincoln 
and give aid to those who battled for the Union and for human liberty. Two years 
ago President McKinley came here as your guest to thank you, and through you all 
those far-sighted and loyal men who had supported him in his successful effort to 
keep untarnished the national good faith at home and the national honor abroad, 
and to bring back to this country the material well-being which we now so abun- 
dantly enjoy. It was no accident which made the men of this Club, who stood as in 
a peculiar sense the champions and upholders of the principles of Lincoln in the 
early sixties, stand no less stoutly for those typified in the person of McKinley during 
the closing years of the century. The qualities apt to make men respond to the call 
of duty in one crisis are also apt to make them respond to a similar call in a crisis of 
a different character. The traits which enabled our people to pass unscathed through 
the fiery ordeal of the Civil War were the traits upon which we [had to rely in the 
less serious, but yet serious, dangers by which we were menaced in 1896, iSgS and 
I goo. 

From the very beginning our people have markedly combined practical capacity 
for affairs with power of devotion to an ideal. The lack of either quality would have 
rendered the possession of the other of small value. Mere ability to achieve success 
in things concerning the body would not have atoned for the failure to live the life 
of high endeavor; and, on the other hand, without a foundation of those qualities 
which bring material prosperity there would be nothing on which the higher life 
could be built. The men of the Revolution would have failed if they had not pos- 
sessed alike devotion to liberty and ability (once liberty had been achieved) to 
show common sense and self-restraint in its use. The men of the great Civil 
War would have failed had they not possessed the business capacity which 
developed and organized their resources, in addition to the stern resolution to 



36o SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

expend these resources as freely as they expended their blood in furtherance of 
the great cause for which their hearts leaped. It is this combination of qualities 
that has made our people succeed. Other peoples have been as devoted to lib- 
erty, and yet, because of lack of hard-headed common sense and of ability to 
show restraint and subordinate individual passions for the general good, have failed 
so signally in the struggle of life as to become a byword among the nations. Yet 
other peoples, again, have possessed all possible thrift and business capacity, but 
have been trampled under foot, or have played a sordid and ignoble part in the 
world, because their business capacity was unaccompanied by any of the lift toward 
nobler things which marks a great and generous nation. The stern but just rule of 
judgment for humanity is that each nation has failed, it matters but little whether 
it has failed through meanness of soul or through lack of robustness of character. 
We must judge a nation by the net result of its life and activity. And so wo must 
judge the policies of those who at any time control the destinies of a nation. 

PLEDGES HAVE BEEN KEPT 

Therefore I ask you to-night to look at the results of the policies championed by 
President McKinley on both the occasions when he appealed to the people for their 
suffrages, and to see how well that appeal has been justified by the event. Most 
certainly I do not claim all the good that has befallen us during the past six 3-ears as 
due solely to any human policy. No legislation, however wise, no administration, 
however efficient, can secure prosperity to a people or greatness to a nation. All 
that can be done b\- the law-maker and the administrator is to give the best chance 
possible for the people of the country themselves to show the stuff that is in them. 
President McKinley was elected in 1S96 on the specific pledge that he would keep the 
financial honor of the nation imtarnished and would put our economic system on a 
stable basis, so that our people might be given a chance to secure the return to pros- 
perity. Both pledges have been so well kept that, as is but too often the case, men 
are beginning to forget how much the keeping of them has meant. When people 
have become very prosperous they tend to become sluggishly indifferent to the con- 
tinuation of the policies that brought about their prosperity. At such times as these 
it is, of course, a mere law of nature that some men prosper more than others, and 
too often those who prosper less, in their jealousy of their more fortunate brethren 
forget that all have prospered somewhat. I ask you soberly to remember that the 
complaint made at the present day of our industrial or economic conditions never 
takes the form of stating that any of our people are less well off than they were seven 
or eight years back, before President McKinley came in and his policies had a chance 
to be applied; but that the complaint is that some people have received more than 
their share of the good things of the world. There was no such complaint eight 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 361 

years ago, in the summer of i8<)4. Complaint was not then that any one had pros- 
pered too much ; it was that no one had prospered enough. Let each one of us 
think of the aflfairs of his own household and his own business; let each of us 
compare his standing now with his standing eight years back, and then let him 
answer for himself whether it is not true that the policies for which William 
McKinley stood in 1S96 have justified themselves thrice over by the results they 
have brought about. 

MEETING ISSUES AS THEY ARISE 

In 1900 the issues in part were the same, but new ones had been added. 
Prosperity had returned; the gold standard' was assured; our tariff was remod. 
eled on the lines that have marked it at all periods when our well-being was 
greatest. But, as must often happen, the President elected on certain issues was 
obliged to face others entirely unforeseen. Rarely, indeed, have our greatest men 
made issues — they have shown their greatness by meeting them as they arose. 
President McKinley faced the problems of the Spanish war and those that followed 
it exactly as he had faced the problems of our economic needs. As a sequel to the 
war with Spain we found ourselves in possession of the Philippines under circum- 
stances which rendered it necessary to subdue a formidable insurrection which made 
it impossible for us with honor or with regard to the welfare of the islands to with- 
draw therefrom. The occasion was seized by the opponents of the President for try- 
ing to raise a new issue, on which they hoped they might be more successful than on 
the old. The clamor raised against him was joined in not only by many honest men 
who were led astray by a mistaken view or imperfect knowledge of the facts, but by 
all who feared effort, who shrank from the rough work of endeavor. The campaign 
of 1900 had to be fought largely upon the new issues thus raised. President McKin- 
ley met it squarely. Two years and eight months ago, before his second nomination, 
he spoke as follows: 

"We believe that the century of free government which the American people 
have enjoyed has not rendered them irresolute and faithless, but has fitted them for 
the great task of lifting up and assisting to better conditions and larger liberty those 
distant peoples who through the issue of battle have become our wards. Let us fear 
not. There is no occasion for faint hearts, no excuse for regrets. Nations do not 
grow in strength, the cause of liberty and law is not advanced by the doing of easy 
things. The harder the task the greater will be the result, the benefit and the honor. 
To doubt our power to accomplish it is to lose faith in the soundness and strength of 
our popular institutions. . . . We have the new care and cannot shift it. And, 
breaking up the camp of ease and isolation, let us bravely and hopefully and 
soberly continue the march of faithful service, and falter not until the work is 



362 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

done. . . . The burden is our opportunity. The opportunity is greater than the 

burden." 

PREDICTIONS COMPLETELY FALSIFIED 

There spoke the man who preached the gospel of hope as well as the gospel of 
duty, and on the issue thus fairly drawn between those who said we would do our 
new work well and triumphantly and those who said we would fail lamentably in the 
efifort, the contest was joined. We won. And now I ask you, two years after the 
victory, to look across the seas and judge for yourselves whether or not the promise 
has been kept. The prophets of disaster have seen their predictions so completely 
falsified by the event that it is actually difficult to arouse even a passing interest in 
their failure. To answer them now, to review their attack on our army, is of merely 
academic interest. They played their brief part of obstruction and clamor ; they 
said their say ; and the current of our life went over them and they sank under it as 
did their predecessors who, thirty-six years before, had declared that another and 
greater struggle for true liberty was only a contest for subjugation in which the 
United States could never succeed. The insurrection among the Filipinos has been 
absolutely quelled. The war has been brought to an end sooner than even the most 
sanguine of us dared to hope. The world has not in recent years seen any military 
task done with more soldierly energy and ability; and done, moreover, in a spirit of 
great humility. The strain on the army was terrible, for the conditions of climate 
and soil made their work harassing to an extraordinary degree, and the foes in the 
field were treacherous and cruel, not merely toward our men, but toward the great 
multitude of peaceful islanders who welcomed our rule. Under the strain of well- 
nigh intolerable provocation there were shameful instances, as must happen in all 
wars, where the soldiers forgot themselves, and retaliated evil for evil. There were 
one hundred thousand hired for a small sum a month apiece, put there under condi- 
tions that strained their ner\'es to the breaking point, and some of the hundred thou- 
sand did what they ought not to have done. But out of a hundred thousand men at 
home, have all been faultless? Every efifort has been made to detect such cases, to 
punish the ofifenders, and to prevent any recurrence of the deed. It is a cruel 
injustice to the gallant men who fought so well in the Philippines not to recognize 
that these instances were exceptional, and that the American troops who served in 
the far-oflf tropic islands deserve praise the same in kind that has always been given 
to those who have well and valiantly fought for the honor of our common flag and 
common country. The work of civil administration has kept pace with the work of 
military administration, and when on July 4th last amnesty and peace were declared 
throughout the islands the civil government assumed the complete control. Peace 
and order now prevail and a greater measure of prosperity and of happiness than the 
FiHpinos have ever hitherto known in all their dark and checkered history ; and each 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 363 

one of them has a greater measure of liberty, a greater chance of liappiness, and 
greater safety for his life and property than he or his forefathers have ever before 
known. 

FIND OUT THE WAY 

Thus we have met each task that has confronted us during the past six years. 
Thus we have kept every promise made in 1S96 and 1900. We have a right to be 
proud of the memories of the last six years. But we must remember that each vic- 
tory only opens the chance for a new struggle ; that the remembrance of triumphs 
achieved in the past is of use chiefly if it spurs us to fresh eflfort in the present. No 
nation has ever prospered as we are prospering now, and we must see to it that by 
our own folly we do not mar this prosperity. Yet we must see to it also that wher- 
ever wrong flourishes it be repressed. It is not the habit of our people to shirk 
issues, but squarely to face them. It is not the habit of our people to treat a good 
record in the past as anything but a reason for expecting an even better record in 
the present; and no administration, gentlemen, should ask to be judged save on 
those lines. The tremendous growth of our industrialism has brought to the front 
many problems with which we must deal; and I trust that we shall deal with them 
along the lines indicated in speech and in action by that profound jurist and upright 
and fearless public sen.-ant who represents Pennsylvania in the cabinef— Attorney- 
General Knox. The question of the so-called trusts is but one of the questions we 
must meet in connection with our industrial .system. There are many of them and 
they are serious; but they can and will be met. Time may be needed for making 
the solution perfect; but it is idle to tell this people that we have not the power to 
solve such a problem as that of exercising adequate supervision over the 'great 
industrial combinations of to-day. We have the power and we shall find out the 
way. We shall not act hastily or recklessly ; but we have firmly made up our minds 
that a solution, and a right solution, shall be found, and found it will be. 

No nation as great as ours can expect to escape the penalty of greatness, for 
greatness does not come without trouble and labor. There are problems ahead of us 
at home and problems abroad, because such problems are incident to the working 
out of a great national career. We do not shrink from them. Scant is our patience 
with those who preach the gospel of craven weakness. No nation under the sun 
ever yet played a part worth playing if it feared its fate overmuch — if it did not have 
the courage to be great. We of America, we, the sons of a nation yet in the pride of 
its lusty youth, spurn the teachings of distrust, spurn the creed of failure and 
despair. We know that the future is ours if we have in us the manhood to grasp it, 
and we enter the new century girding our loins for the contest before us, rejoicing in 
the struggle, and resolute so to bear ourselves that the nation's future shall even 
surpass her glorious past. 



364 SPEECHES OE THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

Speech at Dedication of (he New Hi^h-Schoo! Building 

Pliiladelphia, Pa., November 22, 1902 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am glad to have the chance of being 
present at the formal dedication of this new building, which in its management 
stands in line of succession to a series of buildings, themselves typifying in no 
small degree the extraordinary development of the public school system of the 
United States. It was some sixty-four years ago that this institution was first 
established under a man of great eminence alike in the work of pedagogy and in 
other fields — Professor Biggs. At the time when it was started the public school 
system of the United States had begun and was in the process of its first 
development. Now, in the city of Philadelphia in attendance upon the public 
schools, including the night schools, there are some hundred and seventy thou- 
sand pupils and over four thousand teachers. The development of the high school, 
especially during the last half centuiy, has been literally phenomenal. Nothing like 
our present system of education was known in earlier times. No such system of 
popular education for the people by the representatives of the people existed. It is, 
of course, a mere truism to say that the stability and future welfare of our institu- 
tions of gm'ernment depend upon the grade of citizenship turned out from our pub- 
lic schools. And no body of public servants, no body of individuals associated in 
private life, are better worth the admiration and respect of ail who value citizenship 
at its true worth, than the body composed of the teachers in the public schools 
throughout the length and breadth of this Union. They have to deal with citizen. 
ship in the raw and turn it out something like a finished product. I think that all 
of us who also endeavor to deal with that citizenship in the raw in our own homes 
appreciate the burden and the responsibility. The training given in the public 
schools must, of course, be not merely a training in intellect, but a training in what 
counts for infinitely more than intellect — a training in character. And the chief 
factor in that training must be the personal equation of the teachers; the influence 
exerted, sometimes consciously and sometimes unconsciously, by the man or woman 
who stands in so peculiar a relation to the boys and girls under his or her care — a 
relation closer, more intricate, and more vital in its after-effects than any other rela- 
tion save that of parent and child. Wherever a burden of that kind is laid, those 
who carry it necessarily carry a great responsibility. There can be no greater. 
Scant should be our patience with any man or woman doing a bit of work vitally 
worth doing, who does not approach it in the spirit of sincere love for the work, and 
of desire to do it well for the work's sake. 

Doubtless most of you remember the old distinction drawn between the two 
kinds of work, the work done for the sake of the fee and the work done for the sake 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 365 

of the work itself. The man or woman in public or private life who ever works only 
for the sake of the reward that comes outside of the work, will in the long run do poor 
work. The man or woman who does work worth doing is the man or woman 
who lives, who breathes that work; with whom it is ever present in his or her 
soul ; whose ambition is to do well and to feel rewarded by the thought of having 
done it well. That man, that woman, puts the whole country under an obligation. 
As a body all those connected with the education of our people are entitled to the 
heartiest praise from all lovers of their country, because as a body they are devoting 
heart and soul to the welfare of those under them. 

WE NEED HEALTHY BODIES 

It is a poor type of school nowadays that has not a good playground attached. 
It is not so long since, in my own city at least, this was held as revolutionary doc- 
trine, especially in the crowded quarters where playgrounds were most needed. 
People said they didn't need playgrounds. It was a new-fangled idea. They 
expected to make good citizens of the boys and girls who, when they were not in 
school, were put upon the streets in the crowded quarters of New York to play 
at the kind of games alone that they could play at in the streets. We have 
passed that stage. I think we realize what a good healthy playground means 
to children. I think we understand not only the effects for good upon their 
bodies, but for good upon their minds. We need healthy bodies. We need to 
have schools physically developed. 

LESS BY PRECEPT THAN PRACTICE 

Sometimes you can develop character by the direct inculcation of moral pre- 
cept; a good deal more often you cannot. You develop it less by your precept than 
by your practice. Let it come as an incident of the association with you; as an 
incident to the general tone of the whole body, the tone which in the aggregate we 
all create. Is not that the experience of all of you, in dealing with these children in 
the schools, in dealing with them in the family, in dealing with them in bodies any- 
where? They are quick to take the tone of those to whom they look up, and if the)- 
do not look up to you, then you can preach virtue all you wish, but the effect will be 
small. 

I have not come here to try to make any extended speech to you, but I should 
hold myself a poor citizen if I did not welcome the chance to wish you Godspeed in 
your work for yourselves and to wi.sh you Godspeed in your work as representatives 
of that great body of public school teachers, upon the success of whose efforts 
to train aright the children of to-day depends the safety of our institutions of 
to-morrow. 



366 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

In Honor of the Birthday of President McKinley 

Canton, Ohio, January 27, 1903 

Mr. Toastmaster, Ladies and Gentlemen: Throughout our history, and indeed 
throughout history generally, it has been given to only a very few thrice-favored 
men to take so marked a lead in the crises faced by their several generations that 
thereafter each stands as the embodiment of the triumphant efifort of his generation. 
President McKinley was one of these men. 

If during the lifetime of a generation no crisis occurs sufficient to call out in 
marked manner the energies of the strongest leader, then, of course, the world does 
not and cannot know of the existence of such a leader ; and in consequence there 
are long periods in the history of every nation during which no man appears wlio 
leaves an indelible mark in history. If, on the other hand, the crisis is one so many- 
sided as to call for the development and exercise of many distinct attributes, it may 
be that more than one man will appear in order that the requirements shall be fully 
met. In the Revolution and in the period of constructive statesmanship imme- 
diately following it, for our good fortune it befell us that the highest military and 
the highest civic attributes were embodied in Washington, and so in him we have 
one of the undying men of historj- — a great soldier, if possible an even greater states- 
man, and above all a public servant whose lofty and disinterested patriotism ren- 
dered his power and ability — alike on fought fields and in council chambers — of the 
most far-reaching service to the republic. In the Civil War the two functions 
were divided, and Lincoln and Grant will stand forevermore with their names 
inscribed on the honor roll of those who have deserved well of mankind by saving to 
humanity a precious heritage. In similar fashion Thomas Jefferson and Andrew 
Jackson stand each as the foremost representative of the great movement of his 
generation, and their names symbolize to us their times and the hopes and aspira- 
tions of their times. 

THE FOREMOST PLACE IN POLITICAL LIFE 

It was given to President McKinley to take the foremost place in our political 
life at a time when our country ^was brought face to face with problems more 
momentous than any whose solution we have ever attempted, save only in the Revolu- 
tion and in the Civil War ; and it was under his leadership that the nation solved 
these mighty problems aright. Therefore he .shall stand in the eyes of history not 
merely as the first man of his generation, but as among the greatest figures in our 
national life, coming second only to the men of the two great crises in which the 
Union was founded and preserved. 

No man could carry through successfully such a task as President McKinley 
undertook, unless trained by long years of eflfort for its performance. Knowledge of 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 367 

his fellow-citizens, ability to understand them, keen sympathy with even their inner- 
most feelings, and yet power to lead them, together with far-sighted sagacity and 
resolute belief both in the people and in their future— all these were needed in 
the man who headed the march of our people during the eventful years from 
i8g6 to igoi. These were the qualities possessed by McKinley and developed by 
him throughout his whole history previous to assuming the presidency. As a 
lad he had the inestimable privilege of serving, first in the ranks, and then as a 
commissioned officer, in the great war for national union, righteousness, and 
grandeur; he was one of those whom a kindly Providence permitted to take part in 
a struggle which ennobled every man who fought therein. He who when little more 
than a boy had seen the grim steadfastness which after four years of giant struggle 
restored the Union and freed the slave was not thereafter to be daunted by danger 
or frightened out of his belief in the great destiny of our people. 

McKINLEY'S RISE TO GREATNESS 

Some years after the war was closed McKinley came to Congress, and rose, 
during a succession of terms, to leadership in his party in the lower House. He al.so 
became governor of his native State — Ohio. During this varied service he received 
practical training of the kind most valuable to him when he became chief executive 
of the nation. To the high faith of his early years was added the capacity to realize 
his ideals, to work with his fellow-man at the same time that he led them. 

President McKinley's rise to greatness had in it nothing of the sudden, nothing 
of the unexpected or seemingly accidental. Throughout his long term of service in 
Congress there was a steady increase alike in his power of leadership and in the 
recognition of that power both by his associates in public life and by the public itself. 
Session after session his influence in the House grew greater ; his party antagonists 
grew to look upon him with constantly increasing respect, his party friends with con- 
stantly increasing faith and admiration. Eight years before he was nominated for 
president he was already considered a presidential possibility. Four j-ears before 
he was nominated only his high sense of honor prevented his being made a formi- 
dable competitor of the chief upon whom the choice of the convention then actually 
fell. In 1S96 he was chosen because the great mass of his party knew him and 
believed in him and regarded him as symbolizing their ideals, as representing their 
aspirations. In estimating the forces which brought about his nomination and elec- 
tion I do not undervalue that devoted personal friendship which he had the faculty 
to inspire in so marked a degree among the ablest and most influential leaders; this 
leadership was of immense consequence in bringing about the result but, after all, 
the prime factor was the trust in and devotion to him felt by the great mass of men 
who had come to accept him as their recognized spokesman. In his nomination the 



368 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

national convention of a great party carried into elTect in good faith the deliberate 
judgment of that party as to who its candidate should be. 

But even as a candidate President McKinley was far more than the candidate of 
a party, and as President he was in the broadest and fullest sense the President of 
all the people of all sections of the country. 

His first nomination came to him because of the qualities he had shown in 
healthy and open political leadership, the leadership which by word and deed 
impresses itself as a virile force for good upon the people at large and which has 
nothing in common with mere intrigue or manipulation. But in 1S96 the issue was 
fairly joined, chiefly upon a question which as a party question v>-as entirely new, so 
that the old lines of political cleavage were in large part abandoned. All other issues 
sank in importance when compared with the vital need of keeping our financial sys- 
tem on the high and honorable plane imperatively demanded by our position as a 
great civilized power. As the champion of such a principle President McKinley 
received the support not only of his own party, but of hundreds of thousands of 
those to whom he had been politically ftpposed. He triumphed, and he made 
good with scrupulous fidelity the promises upon which the campaign was won. 
We were at the time in a period of great industrial depression, and it was promised 
for and on behalf of McKinley that if he were elected our financial system should 
not only be preserved unharmed but improved and our economic system shaped 
in accordance with those theories which have always marked our periods of 
greatest prosperity. 

A BETRAYAL OF OUR DUTY 

The promises were kept, and following their keeping came the prosperity 
which we now enjoy. All that was foretold concerning the well-being which would 
follow the election of McKinley has been justified by the event. But, as so often 
happens in our history, the President was forced to face questions other than those 
at issue at the time of his election. Within a year the situation in Cuba had become 
literally intolerable. President McKinley had fought too well in his youth, he knew 
too well at first hand what war really was, lightly to enter into a struggle. He 
sought by ever)' honorable means to preserve peace, to avert war. He made every 
effort consistent with the national honor to bring about an amicable settlement of the 
Cuban difficultiss. Then, when it became evident that these efforts were useless, 
that peace could not be honorably entertained, he devoted his strength to making 
the war as short and as decisive as possible. It is needless to tell the result in detail. 
SufSce it to say that rarely indeed in history has a contest so far-reaching in the 
importance of its outcome been achieved with such ease. There followed a harder 
task. As a result of the war we came into possession of Cuba, Porto Rico, and the 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSKVEI.T 369 

Philippines. In each islaml the coiulititms were such Ihal \vc li.nl to laco problems 
entirely new to our nati^ual experience, and, moreover,, in each island or group of 
islands the problems differed radically from those presented in the others. In Porto 
Rico the task was simple. The island could not be independent. It became in all 
essentials a part of the Union. It has been given all tlic benefits of our economic 
and financial system. Its inhabitants have been given the highest individual libertv, 
while yet their government has been kept under the supervision of officials .so well 
cho.sen that the island can be appealed to as affording a model for all such experi- 
ments in the future; and this result was mainly owing to the admirable choice of 
instruments by President McKinley when he selected the governing officials. 

In Cuba, where we were pledged to give the island independence, the pledge 
was kept not merely in letter but in .spirit. It would have been a betrayal of our 
duty to have given Cuba independence out of hand. President McKinley, with his 
usual singular sagacity in the choice of agents, selected in General Leonard Wood the 
man of all others best fit to bring the island through its uncertain period of prepara- 
tion for independence, and the result of his wisdom was .shown when last May the 
island became in name and fact a free republic, for it started with a better equip- 
ment and under more favorable conditions than had ever previously been the case 
with any Spanish-American commonwealth. 

A COMPLEX PROBLEM 

Finally, in the Philippines, the problem was one of great complexity. Tliere 
was an insurrectionary party claiming to represent the people of the islands and put 
ting forth their claim with a certain speciousness which deceived no small number nf 
men here at home, and which afforded to yet others a chance to arouse a factious 
party spirit against the President. Of course, looking back, it is now easy to see 
that it would have been both absurd and wicked to abandon the Philippine Archi- 
pelago and let the scores of different tribes — Christian, Mohammedan, and pagan, in 
every stage of semi-civilization and Asiatic barbarism — turn the islands into a welter 
of bloody savager)-, with the absolute certainty that some strong power would have to 
step in and take possession. But though now it is easy enough to see that our duty 
was to stay in the islands, to put down the insurrection by force of arms, and then to 
establish freedom-giving civil government, it needed genuine statesmanship to see 
this and to act accordingly at the time of the first revolt. A weaker and less far- 
sighted man than President McKinley would have shrunk from a task very diflicull 
in itself, and certain to furnish occasion for attack and misrepresentation no less than 
for honest misunderstanding. But President McKinley never flinelied. He refused 
to consider the thought of abandoning our duty in our new possessions. While 
sedulously endeavoring to act with the utmost humanity toward the insurrectionists. 



370 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

he never faltered in the determination to put them down by force of anns, alike for 
the sake of our own interest and honor, and for the sake of the interest of the island- 
ers and particularly of the great numbers of friendly natives, including those most 
highly civilized, for whom abandonment by us would have meant ruin and death. 
Again his policy was most amply vindicated. Peace has come to the islands, 
together with a greater measure of individual liberty and self-government than they 
have ever before known All the tasks set us as a result of the war with Spain have 
so far been well and honorably accomplished, and as a result this nation stands higher 
than ever before among the nations of mankind. 

President McKinley's second campaign was fought mainly on the issue of 
approving what he had done in his first administration, and specifically what he had 
done as regards these problems springing out of the war with Spain. The result 
was that the popular verdict in his favor was more overwhelming than it had been 
before. 

m THE GOLDEN FULLNESS OF TRIUMPH 

No other president in our history has seen high and honorable effort crowned 
with more conspicuous personal success. No other president entered upon his second 
term feeling such right to a profound and peaceful satisfaction. Then by a stroke of 
horror, so strange in its fantastic iniquity as to stand unique in the black annals of 
crime, he was struck down. The brave, strong, gentle heart was stilled forever, and 
word was brought to the woman who wept that she was to walk thenceforth alone in 
the shadow. The hideous infamy of the deed shocked the nation to its depths, for 
the man thus struck at was in a peculiar sense the champion of the plain people, in a 
particular sense the representative and the exponent of those ideals which, if we 
live up to them, will make, as they largely made, our country a blessed refuge for all 
who strive to do right and to live their lives simply and well as light is given them. 
The nation was stunned, and the people mourned with a sense of bitter bereavement 
because they had lost a man whose heart beat for them as the heart of Lincoln had 
once beaten. We did right to mourn ; for the loss was ours, not his. He died in the 
golden fullness of triumph. He died victorious in that highest of all kinds of strife — 
the strife for an ampler, juster, and more generous national life. For him the 
laurel ; but woe for those whom he left behind ; woe to the nation that lost him ; and 
woe to mankind that there should exist creatures so foul that one among them should 
strike at so noble a life! 

We are gathered together to-night to recall his memory, to pay our tribute of 
respect to the great chief and leader who fell in the harness, who was stricken down 
while his eyes were bright with "the light that tells of triumph tasted. " We can 
honor him best by the way we show in actual deed that we have taken to heart the 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 371 

lessons of his life. We must strive to achieve, each iu the measure that he can, 
something of the qualities which made President McKinley a leader of men, a 
mighty power for good— his strength, his courage, his courtesy and dignity, liis 
sense of justice, his ever-present kindliness and regard for the rights of others. lie 
won greatness by meeting and solving the issues as they arose — not by shirking 
them — meeting them with wisdom, with the e.\ercise of the mo,st skillful and cautious 
judgment, but with fearless resolution when the time of crisis came. He met each 
crisis on its own merits; he never sought excuse for shirking a task iu the fact that 
it was different from the one he had expected to face. The long public career, 
■which opened when as a boy he carried a musket in the ranks and closed when as a 
man in the prime of his intellectual strength he stood among the world's chief states- 
men, came to what it was because he treated each triumph as opening the road to 
fresh effort, not as an excuse for ceasing from effort. He undertook mighty tasks. 
Some of them he finished completely, others we must finish ; and there remain yet 
others which he did not have to face, but which if we are worthy to be the inheritors 
of his principles we will in our turn face with the same resolution, the same sanity, 
the same unfaltering belief in the greatness of this country, and unfaltering cham- 
pionship of the rights of each and all of our people, which marked his high and 
splendid career. 

Celebration of the Birth of John Wesley 

Carnegie Hall, New York, N. Y., February 26, 1903 
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: I am glad to have the chance of 
addressing this representative body of the great church which Wesley founded, on 
the occasion of the commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary of his birth. 
America, moreover, has a peculiar proprietary claim on Wesley's memory, for it is 
on our continent that the Methodist Church has received its greatest development. 
In the days of our Colonial life Methodism was not, on the whole, a great factor in 
the religious and social life of the people. The Congregationalists were supreme 
throughout most of New England; the Episcopalians on the seaboard from New 
York southward, while the Presbyterian congregations were most numerous along 
what was then the entire, western frontier; and the Quaker, Catholic, and Dutch 
Reformed churches each had developments in special places. The great growth of 
the Methodist Church, like the great growth of the Baptist Church, began at about 
the time of the Revolutionary War. To-day my theme is purely Methodism. 

Since the days of the Revolution not only has the Methodist Church increased 
greatly in the old communities of the original thirteen States, but it has played a 
peculiar and prominent part in the pioneer growth of our country and has, in conse- 



372 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

quence, assumed a position of immense importance throughout the vast region west 
of the AUeghenies which has been added to our nation since the days when ,the Cou- 
tinental Congress first met. 

For a century after the Declaration of Independence the greatest work of our 
people, with the exception only of the work of self-preservation under Lincoln, was 
the work of the pioneers as they took possession of this continent. During that cen- 
tury we pushed westward from the AUeghenies to the Pacific, southward to the Gulf 
and the Rio Grande, and also took possession of Alaska. The work of advancing 
our boundary, of pushing the frontier across forest and desert and mountain chain, 
was the great typical work of our nation; and the men who did it — the frontiersmen, 
the pioneers, the backwoodsmen, plainsmen, mountain men, which none but men of 
iron soul and iron body could do. The men who carried it to a successful conclusion 
had characters strong alike for good and for evil. Their rugged natures made them 
powers who served light or darkness with fierce intensity; and together with heroic 
traits they had those evil and dreadful tendencies which are but too apt to be found 
in characters of heroic possibilities. Such men make the most efficient servants of 
the Lord if their abounding vitality and energy are directed aright; and if misdi- 
rected their influence is equally potent against the cause of Christianity and true 
civilization. In the hard and cruel life of the border, with its grim struggle against 
the forbidding forces of wild nature and wilder men, there was much to pull the 
frontiersman down. If left to himself, without moral teaching and moral guidance, 
without any of the influences that tend toward the uplifting of man and the subdu- 
ing of the brute within him, sad would have been his, and therefore our, fate. From 
this fate we have been largely rescued by the fact that together with the rest of 
the pioneers went the pioneer preachers; and all honor be given to the Metho- 
dists for the great proportion of these pioneer preachers whom they furnished. 

THE SPIRIT OF MARTYRS 

These preachers were of the stamp of old Peter Cartwright — men who 
suffered and overcame every hardship in common with their flock, and who in 
addition tamed the wild and fierce spirits of their fellow pioneers. It was not a 
task that could have been accomplished by men desirous to live in the soft 
places of the earth and to walk easily on life's journey. They had to possess 
the spirit of the martyrs; but not of martyrs who could merely suffer, not of 
martyrs who could oppose only passive endurance to wrong. The pioneer 
preachers warred against the forces of spiritual evil with the same fiery zeal and 
energy that they and their fellows showed in the conquest of the rugged conti- 
nent. They had in them the heroic spirit, the spirit that scorns ease if it must 
be purchased by failure to do duty, the spirit that courts risk and a life of hard 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 373 

endeavor if the'goal to be reached is really worth attaining. Great is our debt to 
these men and scant the patience we need sliow toward their critics. At times they 
seemed hard and narrow to those whose training and surroundings had saved them 
from similar temptations; and they have been criticised, as all men, whetlier mis- 
sionaries, soldiers, explorers, or frontier settlers, are criticised when they go forth to 
do the rough work [that must ii.evitably be done by those who act as the first har- 
bingers, the first heralds, of civilization in the world's dark places. It is easy for 
those who stay at home in comfort, who never have to see humanitv in the raw, or to 
strive against the dreadful naked forces which appear clothed, hidden, and subdued 
in civilized life — it is easy for such to criticise' the men who, in rough fashion, and 
amid grim surroundings, make ready the way for the higher life that is to come 
afterwards; but let us all remember that the untempted and the eflfortless should 
be cautious in passing too heavy judgment upon their brethren who may show hard- 
ness, who may be guilty of shortcomings, but who nevertheless do the great deeds 
by which mankind advances. These pioneers of Methodism had the strong, militant 
virtues which go to the accomplishment of such great deeds. Now and then they 
betrayed the shortcomings natural to men of their type; but their shortcomings .seem 
small indeed when we place beside them the magnitude of the work they achieved. 

THE PIONEER DAYS ARE OVER 

And now, friends, in celebrating the wonderful growth of Methodism, in rejoic- 
ing at the good it has done to the country and to mankind, I need hardly ask a body 
like this to remember that the greatness of the fathers becomes to the children a 
shameful thing if they use it only as an excuse for inaction instead of as a spur to 
effort for noble aims. I speak to you not only as Methodists — I speak to you as 
American citizens. The pioneer days are over. We now all of us form parts of a 
great civilized nation, with a complex industrial and social life and infinite possibili- 
ties both for good and for evil. The instruments with which, and the surroundings 
in which we work, have changed immeasurably from what they were in the days 
when the rough backwoods preachers ministered to the moral and spiritual needs of 
their rough backwoods congregation.s. But if we are to succeed, the spirit in which 
we are to do our work must be the same as the spirit in which they did theirs. 
These men drove forward and fought their way upward to success, because their 
sense of duty was in their hearts, in the verj- marrow of their bones. It was not 
with them something to be considered as a mere adjunct to their theologj-. 
standing separate and apart from their daily life. They had it with them week 
da\-s as well as Sundays. They did not divorce the spiritual from the secular. 
They did not have one kind of conscience for one side of their lives and another for 
another. 



374 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

IN THE INTEREST OF THE HIGHER LIFE 

If we are to succeed as a nation we must have the same spirit in us. We must 
be absolutely practical, of course, and must face facts as they are. The pioneer 
preachers of Methodism could not have held their own for a fortnight if they 
had not shown an intense practicality of spirit, if they had not possessed the 
broadest and deepest sympathy for, and understanding of, their fellow men. But 
in addition to the hard, practical common sense needed by each of us in life we 
must have a lift toward lofty things, or we shall be lost, individually, and col- 
lectively as a nation. Life is not easy, and least of all is it easy for either the 
man or the nation that aspires to do great deeds. In the century opening, the 
play of the infinitely far-reaching forces and tendencies which go to make up our 
social system bids fair to be even fiercer in its activity than in the century 
which has just closed. If during this century the men of high and fine moral 
sense show themselves weaklings ; if they possess only that cloistered virtue which 
shrinks shuddering from the raw facts of actual life; if they dare not go down into 
the hurly-burly where the men of might contend for the mastery; if they stand aside 
from the pressure and conflict; then as surely as the sun rises and sets all of 
our great material progress, all the multiplication of the physical agencies which 
tend for our comfort and enjoyment, will go for naught and our civilization will 
become a brutal sham and mockery. If we are to do as I believeVe shall and will 
do, if we are to advance in broad humanity, in kindliness, in the spirit of brother- 
hood, exactly as we advance in our conquest over the hidden forces of nature, it must 
be by developing strength in virtue and virtue in strength, by breeding and traming 
men who shall be both good and strong, both gentle and valiant— men who scorn 
wrong-doing and who at the same time have both the courage and the strength to 
strive mightily for the right. Wesley accomplished so much for mankind because he 
refused to leave the stronger, manlier qualities to be availed of only in the interest of 
evil. The church he founded has throughout its career been a church for the poor as 
well as for the rich and has known no distinction of persons. It has been a church 
whose members, if true to the teachings of its founder, have sought for no greater 
privilege than to spend and be spent in the interest of the higher life, who have 
prided themselves, not on shirking rough duty, but on undertaking it and carrying it 
to a successful conclusion. 

I come here to-night to greet you and to pay my tribute to your past because you 
have deserved well of mankind, because you have striven with strength and courage 
to bring nearer the day when peace and justice shall obtain among the peoples of 
tl"e ea'"th. 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 375 

Eulogy of President McKinley 

On the 6th of September President McKinley was shot by an anarchist while 
attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buflfalo, and died in that city on the 14th 
of that month. 

Of the last seven elected presidents he is the third who has been murdered, and 
the bare recital of this fact is sufficient to justify grave alarm among all loyal Ameri- 
can citizens. Moreover, the circumstances of this, the third assassination of an 
American president, have a peculiarly sinister significance. Both President Lincohi 
and President Garfield were killed by assassins of types unfortunately not uncom- 
mon in history; President Lincoln falling a victim to the terrible passions aroused by 
four years of civil war, and President Garfield to the revengeful vanity- of a disap- 
pointed office-seeker. President McKinlej' was killed by an utterly depraved crimi- 
nal, belonging to that body of criminals who object to all governments, good and 
bad alike, who are against any form of popular liberty if it is guaranteed by even the 
most just and liberal laws, and who are as hostile to the upright exponent of a free 
people's sober will as to the tyrannical and irresponsible despot. 

THE WAGE-WORKER'S CHAMPION 

It is not too much to say that at the time of President McKinley's death he was 
the most widely loved man in all the United States, while we have never had any 
public man of his position who has been so wholly free from the bitter animosities 
incident to public life. His political opponents were the first to bear the heartiest 
and most generous tribute to the broad kindliness of nature, the sweetness and gen- 
tleness of character which so endeared him to his close associates. To a standard of 
lofty integrit}' in public life he united the tender affections and home virtues which 
are all-important in the make-up of national character. A gallant soldier in the 
great war for the Union, he also shone as an example to all our people because of his 
conduct in the most sacred and intimate of home relations. There could be no per- 
sonal hatred of him, for he never acted with aught but consideration for the welfare 
of others. No one could fail to respect him who knew him in public or private life. 
The defenders of those murderous criminals who seek to excuse their criminality by 
asserting that it is exercised for political ends inveigh against wealth and irrespon- 
sible power. But for this as.sassination even this base apology cannot be urged. 

President McKinley was a man of moderate means, a man whose stock sprang 
from the sturdy tillers of the soil, who had himself belonged among the wage-work- 
ers, who had entered the army as a private soldier. Wealth was not struck at when 
the President was assassinated, but the honest toil which is content with moderate 
gains after a lifetime of unremitting labor, largely in the service of the public. Still 
less was power struck at in the sense that power is irresponsible or centered in the 



376 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

hands of any one individual. The blow was not aimed at tyranny or wealth. It 
was aimed at one of the strongest champions the wage-worker has ever had; at one 
of the most faithful representatives of the system of public rights and representative 
government who have ever risen to public office. President McKinley filled that 
political office for which the entire people vote, and no president— not even Lincoln 
himself— was ever more earnestly anxious to represent the well-thought-out wishes 
of the people ; his one anxiety in every crisis was to keep in closest touch with the 
people— to find out what they thought and to endeavor to give expression to their 
thought, after having endeavored to guide that thought aright. He had just been 
reelected to the presidency because the majority of our citizens, the majority of our 
farmers and wage-workers, believed that he had faithfully upheld their interests for 
four years. They felt themselves in close and intimate touch with him. They 
felt that he represented so well and so honorably all their ideals and aspirations 
that they wished him to continue for another four years to represent them. 

And this was the man at whom the assassin struck! That there might be 
nothing lacking to complete the Judas-like infamy of his act, he took advantage 
of an occasion when the President was meeting the people generally; and, 
advancing as if to take the hand outstretched to him in kindly and brotherly 
fellowship, he turned the noble and generous confidence of the victim into an 
opportunity to strike the fatal blow. There is no baser deed in all the annals of 

crime. 

RESOLUTE ACTION DEMANDED 

The shock, the grief of the country, are bitter iu the minds of all who saw 
the dark days while the President yet hovered between life and death. At last 
the light was stilled in the kindly eyes and the breath went from the lips that 
even in mortal agony uttered no words save of forgiveness to his murderer, of 
love for his friends and of unfaltering trust in the will of the Most High. Such 
a death, crowning the glory of such a life, leaves us with infinite sorrow, but 
with such pride in what he had accompli-shed and in his own personal character 
that we feel the blow not as struck at him but as struck at the nation. We 
mourn a good and great President who is dead; but while we mourn we are 
lifted up by the splendid achievements of his life and the grand heroism with 
which he met his death. 

When we turn from the man to the nation the harm done is so great as to 
excite our gravest apprehensions and to demand our wisest and mos: resolute 
action. This criminal was a professed anarchist, inflamed by the teachings of 
professed anarchists and probably also by the reckless utterances of those who, 
on the stump and in public press, appeal to the dark and evil spirits of malice 
and greed, envy and sullen hatred. The wind is sowed by the men who teach 



SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 377 

such doctrines, and they cannot escape their share of the respiinsil)ility for the 
whirlwind that is reaped. This applies alike to the deliberate demagogue, to the 
exploiter of sensationalism and to the crude and foolish visionary who, for what- 
ever reason, apologizes for crime or excites aimless discontent. 

The blow was aimed not at this president, but at all presidents; at every 
symbol of government. President McKinley was as emphatically the embodi- 
ment of the popular will of the nation expressed through the forms of law as a 
New England town meeting is in similar fashion the embodiment of the law- 
abiding purpose and practice of the people of the town. On no conceivable 
theory could the murder of the President be accepted as due to jn'otest against 
"inequalities in the social order," save as the murder of all the freemen engaged 
in a town meeting could be accepted as a protest against that social inequality 
which puts a malefactor in jail. Anarchy is no more an expression of ".social 
discontent" than picking pockets or wife-beating. 

The anarchist, and especially the anarchist in the United States, is merely one 
type of criminal, more dangerous than any other because he represents the same 
depravity in a greater degree. The man who advocates anarchy directly or indi- 
rectly, in any shape or fashion, or the man who apologizes for anarchists and their 
deeds, makes himself moral!)' accessory to murder before the fact. The anarchist is 
a criminal whose perverted instincts lead him to prefer confusion and chaos to the 
most beneficent form of social order. His protest of concern for workingmcn is out- 
rageous in its impudent falsity; for if the political institutions of this country do not 
afford opportunity to every honest and intelligent son of toil, then the door of hope is 
forever closed against him. The anarchist is everywhere not merely the enemy of 
system and of progress, but the deadly foe of liberty. If ever anarchy is trium- 
phant, its triumph will last for but one red moment, to be succeeded for ages by the 
gloomy night of despotism. 

For the anarchist himself, whether he preaches or practices his doctrines, we 
need not have one particle more concern than for any ordinary murderer. He is 
not the victim of social or political injustice. There are no wrongs to remedy in his 
case. The cause of his criminality is to be found in his own evil passions and in the 
evil conduct of those who urge him on, not in any failure by others or by the state to 
do justice to him or his. He is a malefactor and nothing else. He is in no sense, in 
no shape or way, a "product of social conditions," save as a highwayman is "pro- 
duced" by the fact that an unarmed man happens to have a purse. It is a travesty 
upon the great and holy names of liberty and freedom to permit them to be invoked 
in such a cause. No man or body of men [ireaching anarchistic doctrines should be 
allowed at large any more than if preaching the murder of some specified private 
individual. Anarchistic speeches, writings and meetings are es.'ientially seditious. 



378 SPEECHES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

I earnestly recommend to the Congress that in the exercise of its wise discretion 
it should take into consideration the coming to this country of anarchists or persons 
professing principles hostile to all government and justifying the murder of those 
placed in authority. Such individuals as those who not long ago gathered in open 
meeting to glorify the murder of King Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the 
law^should insure their rigorous punishment. They and those like them should be 
kept out of this country; and if found here they should be promptly deported to the 
country whence they came; and far-reaching provision should be made for the pun- 
ishment of those who stay. No matter calls more urgently for the wisest thought of 
the Congress. 

The federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills or 
attempts to kill the president or any man who by the constitution or by law is in line 
of succession for the presidency, while the puni.shment for an unsuccessful attempt 
should be proportioned to the enormity of the offense against our institutions. 

Anarchy is a crime against the whole human race, and all mankind should band 
against the anarchist. His crime should be made an offense against the law of 
nations, like piracy and that form of man stealing known as the slave trade, for it is 
of far blacker infamy than either. It should be so declared by treaties among all 
civilized powers. Such treaties would give to the federal government the power of 
dealing with the crime. 

A grim commentary upon the folly of the anarchist position was afforded by the 
attitude of the law toward this very criminal who had just taken the life of the Presi- 
dent. The people would have torn him limb from limb if it had not been that the 
law he defied was at once invoked in his behalf. So far from his deed being com- 
mitted on behalf of the people against the government, the government was obliged 
at once to exert its full police power to save him from instant death at the hands of 
the people. Moreover, his deed worked not the slightest dislocation in our govern- 
mental system, and the danger of a recurrence of such deeds, no matter how great it 
might grow, would work only in the direction of strengthening and giving harshness 
to the forces of order. No man will ever be restrained from becoming president by 
any fear as to his personal safety. If the risk to the president's life became great it 
would mean that the office would more and more come to be filled by men of a spirit 
which would make them resolute and merciless in dealing with every friend of dis- 
order. This great country will not fall into anarchy, and if anarchists should ever 
become a serious menace to its institutions they would not merely be stamped out 
but would involve in their own ruin every active or passive sympathizer with their 
doctrines. The American people are slow to wrath, but when their wrath is once 
kindled it burns like a consuming flame. 



EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE 

To the Fifty-Eighth Congress, First Session. 

To the Senate and House of Representatives: The country is to be congratu- 
lated on the amount of substantial achievement which has mark-cil the past year, 
both as regards our foreign and as regards our domestic policy. 

With a nation, as with a man, the most important things are those of the house- 
hold, and therefore the country is especially to be congratulated on what has been 
accomplished in the direction of providing for the exercise of supervision over the 
great corporations and combinations of corporations engaged in interstate commerce. 
The Congress has created the department of commerce and labor, including the 
bureau of corporations, with for the first time authority to secure proper publicity of 
such proceedings of these great corporations as the public has a right to know. It 
has provided for the expediting of suits for the enforcement of the federal anti-trust 
law, and by another law it has secured equal treatment to all producers in the trans- 
portation of their goods, thus taking a long stride forward in making effective the 
work of the interstate commerce commission. 

The establishment of the department of commerce and labor, with the bureau of 
corporations thereunder, marks a real advance in the direction of doing all that is 
possible for the solution of the questions vitally affecting capitalists and wage-work- 
ers. The act creating the department was approved on February 14, 1903, and two 
days later the head of the department was nominated and confirmed by the Senate. 
Since then the work of organization has been pushed as rapidly as the initial appro- 
priations permitted and with due regard to thoroughness and the broad 'purposes 
which the department is designed to serve. After the transfer of the various bureaus 
and branches to the department at the beginning of the current fiscal year, as pro- 
vided for in the act, the personnel comprised 1,289 employes in Washington and 
8,836 in the country at large. The scope of the department's duty and authority 
embraces the commercial and industrial interests of the nation. It is not 
designed to restrict or control the fullest liberty of legitimate business action, but 
to .secure exact and authentic information which will aid the executive in enforc- 
ing existing laws and which will enable the Congress to enact additional legisla- 
tion, if any should be found necessary, in order to prevent the few from obtaining 
privileges at the expense of diminished opportunities for the many. 

The preliminary work of the bureau of corporations in the department has 
shown the wisdom of its creation. Publicity in corporate affairs will tend to do 

379 



3So EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 

away with ignorance and will afford facts upon which intelligent action may be 
taken. Systematic, intelligent investigation is already developing facts the 
knowledge of which is essential to a right understanding of the needs and duties 
of the business world. The corporation which is honestly and fairly organized, 
whose managers in the conduct of its business recognize their obligation to deal 
squarely with their stockholders, their competitors and the public, has nothing to 
fear from such supervision. The purpose of this bureau is not to embarrass or 

assail legitimate business but to aid in bringing about a better industrial condition 

a condition under which there shall be obedience to law and recognition of public 
obligation by all corporations, great or small. The department of commerce and 
labor will be not only the clearing house for information regarding the business 
transactions of the nation but the executive arm of the government to aid in 
strengthening our domestic and foreign markets, in perfecting our transportation 
facilities, in building up our merchant marine, in preventing the entrance of unde- 
sirable immigrants, in improving commercial and industrial conditions and in bring- 
ing together on common ground those necessary partners in industrial progress — 
capital and labor. Commerce between the nations is steadily growing in volume and 
the tendency of the times is toward closer trade relations. Constant watchfulness is 
needed to secure to Americans the chance to participate to the best advantage in 
foreign trade, and we may confidently expect that the new department will justify the 
expectation of its creators by the exercise of this watchfulness as well as by the busi- 
nesslike administration of such laws relating to our internal affairs as are intrusted 
to its care. 

In enacting the laws above enumerated the Congress proceeded on sane and 
conservative lines. Nothing revolutionary was attempted, but a common-sense and 
successful effort was made in the direction of seeing that corporations are so handled 
as to subserve the public good. Tlie legislation was moderate. It was characterized 
throughout by the idea that we were not attacking corporations but endeavoring to 
provide for doing away with any evil in them; that we drew the line against miscon- 
duct, not against wealth, gladly recognizing the great good done by the capitalist 
who, alone or in conjunction with his fellows, does his work along proper and legiti- 
mate lines. The purpose of the legislation, which purpose will undoubtedly be ful- 
filled, was to favor such a man when he does well and to supervise his action only 
to prevent him from doing ill. Publicity can do no harm to the honest corporation. 
The only corporation that has cause to dread it is the corporation which shrinks from 
the light, and about the welfare of such corporations we need noi be oversensitive 
The work of the department of commerce and labor has been conditioned upon this 
theory — of securing fair treatment alike for labor and for capital. 

The consistent policy of the national government, so far as it has the power, is 



EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESIDENTS RIICSSAGE 3S1 

to hold in check the unscrupulous man, whether employer or employe, but to refuse 
to weaken individual initiative or to hamper or cramp the industrial development of 
the country. We recognize that this is an era of federation and combination, in 
which great capitalistic corporations and labor unions have become factors of tre- 
mendous ^importance in all industrial centers. Hearty recognition is given the far- 
reaching, beneficent work which has been accomplished through both corporations 
and unions, and the line as between different corporations, as between different 
unions, is drawn as it is between different individuals— that is, it is drawn on con- 
duct, the effort being to treat both organized capital and organized labor alike, 
asking nothing save that the interest of each .shall be brought into harmony with 
the interest of the general public and that the conduct of each shall conform to 
the fundamental rules of obedience to law, of individual freedom and of justice 
and fair dealing toward all. Whenever either corporation, labor union or individual 
disregards the law or acts in a spirit of arbitrary and tyrannous interference with the 
rights of others, whether corporations or individuals, then where the federal govern- 
ment has jurisdiction it will see to it that the misconduct is stopped, paying not the 
slightest heed to the position or power of the corporation, the union or the individual, 
but only to one vital fact — that is, the question whether or-not the conduct of the 
individual or aggregate of individuals is in accordance with the law of the land. 
Every man must be guaranteed his liberty and his right to do as he likes with his 
property or his labor, so long as he does not infringe the rights of others. No man is 
above the law and no man is below it; nor do we ask any man's permission when 
we require him to obey it. Obedience to the law is demanded as a right, not asked 
as a favor. 

We have cause as a nation to be thankful for the steps that have been so success- 
fully taken to put these principles into effect. The progress has been by evolution, 
not by revolution. Nothing radical has been done ; the action has been both moder- 
ate and resolute. Therefore the work will stand. There shall be no backward step. 
If in the working of the laws it. proves desirable that they shall at any point be 
expanded or amplified the amendment can be made as its desirability is shown. 
Meanwhile they are being administered with judgment, but with insistence upon 
obedience to them, and their need has been emphasized in signal fashion by the 
events of the past year. 

From all sources, exclusive of the postal .service, the receipts of the government 
for the last fiscal year aggregated $560,396,674. The expenditures for the same 
period were $506,099,007, the surplus for the fiscal year being $54,297,667. The 
indications are that the surplus for the present fiscal year will be very small, if, 
indeed, there be any surplus. From July to November the receipts from custom.s 
were approximately .Jy, 000,000 less than the receipts from the same .source for a cor- 



382 EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 

responding portion of last year. Should this decrease continue at the same ratio 
throughout the fiscal year the surplus would be reduced by approximately 530,- 
000,000. Should the revenue from customs suffer much further decrease during 
the fiscal year the surplus would vanish. A large surplus is certainly undesir- 
able. Tv?o years ago the war taxes were taken off with the express intention of 
equalizing the governmental receipts and expenditures, and though the first year 
thereafter still showed a surplus it now seems likely that a substantial equality 
of revenue and expenditure will be attained. Such being the case, it is of great 
moment both to exercise care and economy in appropriations and to scan sharply 
any change in our fiscal revenue system which may reduce our income. The 
need of strict economy in our expenditures is emphasized by the fact that we can- 
not aflford to be parsimonious in providing for what is essential to our national 
well-being. Careful economy wherever possible will alone prevent our income from 
falling below the point required in order to meet our genuine needs. 

The integrity of our currency is beyond question and under present conditions 
it would be unwise and unnecessary to attempt a reconstruction of our entire mone- 
tary system. The same liberty should be granted the secretary of the treasury to 
deposit customs receipts as is granted him in the deposit of receipts from otiier 
sources. In my message of December 2, igo2, I called attention to certain needs 
of the financial situation and I again ask the consideration of the Congress for these 
questions. 

During the last session of the Congress, at the suggestion of a joint note from 
the republic of Mexico and the imperial government of China and in harmony with 
an act of Congress appropriating $25,000 to pay the expenses thereof, a commission 
was appointed to confer with the principal European countries in the hope that some 
plan might be devised whereby a fixed rate of exchange could be assured between 
the gold-standard countries and the silver-standard countries. This commission has 
filed its preliminary report, which has been made public. I deem it important that 
the commission be continued and that a sum of money be appropriated sufficient to 
pay the expenses of its further labors. 

In my last annual message, in connection with the subject of the due regulation 
of combinations of capital which are or may become injurious to the public, I recom- 
mended a special appropriation for the better enforcement of the anti-trust law as 
it now stands, to be expended under the direction of the attorney-general. Accord- 
ingly (by the legislative, executive and judicial appropriation act of February 25, 
1903, 32 Stat., 854,904) the Congress appropriated, for the purpose of enforcing the 
various federal trust and interstate commerce laws, the sum of §500.000, to be 
expended under the direction of the attorney-general in the employment of special 
counsel and agents in the department of justice to conduct proceedings and prosecu- 



EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 383 

tions under said laws in the courts of the United States. I now recommend as a 
matter of the utmost importance and urijency the extension of the purposes of this 
appropriation so that it may be available, under the direction of the attorney-gen- 
eral, and until used, for the due enforcement of the laws of the United States in 
general and especially of the civil and criminal laws relating to public lands and 
the laws relating to postal crimes and offenses and the subject of naturalization. 
Recent investigations have shown a deplorable state of affairs in these three 
matters of vital concern. By various frauds and by forgeries and perjuries 
thousands of acres of the public domain, embracing lands of different character 
and extending through various sections of the country, have been dishonestly 
acquired. It is hardly necessary to urge the importance of recovering these 
dishonest acquisitions, stolen from the people, and of promptly and duly 
punishing the offenders. I speak in another part of this message of the 
widespread crimes by which the .sacred right of citizenship is falsely asserted and 
that "inestimable heritage" perverted to base ends. 

By similar means — that is, through frauds, forgeries and perjuries, and by 
shameless briberies — the laws relating to the proper conduct of the public sen-ice 
in general and to the due administration of the postoffice department have been 
notoriously violated and many indictments have been found and the consequent 
prosecutions are in course of hearing or on the eve thereof. For the reasons 
thus indicated and so that the government may be prepared to enforce promptly 
and with the greatest effect the due penalties for such violations of law and to 
this end may be furnished with sufBcient instrumentalities and competent legal 
assistance for the investigations and trials which will be necessary at many 
different points of the country, I urge upon the Congress the necessity of 
making the said appropriation available for immediate use for all such purposes, 
to be expended under the direction of the attorney-general. 

Steps have been taken by the state department looking to the making of 
bribery an extraditionable offense with foreign powers. The need of more 
effective treaties covering this crime is manifest. The exposures and prosecutions 
of official corruption in St Louis, Mo., and other cities and States have resulted 
in a number of givers and takers of bribes becoming fugitives in foreign lands. 
Bribery has not been included in extradition treaties heretofore, as the necessity 
for it has not arisen. While there may have been as much official corruption in 
former years, there has been more developed and brought to light in the 
immediate past than in the preceding century of our country's history. It should 
be the policy of the United States to leave no place on earth where a corrupt 
man fleeing from this country can rest in peace. There is no reason why bribery 
should not be included in all treaties as extraditable. The recent amended 



*432 EXTRACTS FROM THE PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE 

treaty with Mexico whereby this crime was put in the list of extraditable offenses 
has established a salutary precedent in this regard. Under this treaty the state 
department has asked and Mexico has granted the extradition of one of the SL 
Louis bribe-givers. 

There can be no crime more serious than bribery. Other offenses violate one 
law, while corruption strikes at the foundation of all law. Under our form of 
government all authority is vested in the people and by them delegated to those 
who represent ihera in official capacity. There can be no offense heavier than 
that of him in whom such a sacred trust has been reposed, who sells it for his 
own gain and enrichment, and no less heavy is the offense of the bribe-giver. 
He is worse than the thief, for the thief robs the individual, while the corrupt 
official plunders an entire city or State. He is as wicked as the murderer, for 
the murderer may only take one life against the law. while the corrupt official 
and the man who corrupts the official alike aim at the assassination of the 
commonwciilth itself. Government of the i)coi)lc, by the people, for the 
people, will i>crisli from the face of the earth if bribery is tolerated. The givers 
and takers of brilws stand on evil prceniiueuce of infamy. The exfxwure and 
punishment of public corruption is an honor to a nation, not a disgrace. The 
shunic lies in toleration, not in correction. No city or State, still less the nation, 
can be iujurcd by the enforcement of law. As. long as public plunderers when 
detected can find a haven of refuge in any foreign land ond avoid punishment, 
just so long encouragement is given them to omtinue their practices. If we fail 
to do all that in us lies to stamp out corruption we cannot escape our share of 
responsibility for the guilt. The first requisite of successful self-government is 
unflinching enforcement of the law and the catting out of corruption.' 



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